The Very Belated Trial of Sirius Black
by nicnac918
Summary: In the end it all came down to a coincidence. It had merely been coincidence that Remus had been in Filius's office with him when Harry walked in with the Missing Rat poster. Granted, all things told it wasn't an especially unlikely coincidence, but there you were. Third in the Honey Bee 'verse.
1. Chapter 1

AN: First fic in the series is "The Stinging Habits of the Western Honey Bee" (story ID:6903136)

* * *

In the end it all came down to a coincidence. It had merely been coincidence that Remus had been in Filius's office with him when Harry walked in. Granted, all things told it wasn't an especially unlikely coincidence, but there you were.

"Sorry," Harry said, looking ready to slip right back out the door again. "I didn't mean to interrupt."

"Nonsense," Filius said. "Come in, come in. Professor Lupin and I were just comparing notes."

More accurately, Remus was picking Filius brain, as he had with most all of the professors. Remus had some experience with tutoring, both informally back when he had been in school, and as one of the odd jobs he had picked up when he could, but teaching was an entirely different thing, and he wanted to do the best he possibly could at it. This position at Hogwarts – a steady, long-term position where they knew and accepted his condition and where he got to be close to Harry – was the fifth best thing that had ever happened to Remus, right after being asked to take Harry in - regardless of how the latter situation had ended up working out. He would not mess this up.

Remus offered Harry a smile. "Hello. How's your arm feeling?"

"It's good," Harry said, waving the arm about a bit. "Thanks for, er… well, thanks."

"You're welcome," Remus said, a glint of amusement in his eyes showing he knew exactly what he was being thanked for. It had been Remus's intervention, pointing out that really healing students was Madam Pomfrey's responsibility and it was a bit lacking in professional courtesy for Gilderoy to try to take that over, that had saved Harry's arm from who knew what fate. Remus also suspected it was only his timely suggestion that Severus should see to getting Harry to the hospital wing that saved Gilderoy from being very thoroughly cursed when he proclaimed Remus right, because if he went around taking over every responsibility he was capable of it would leave the rest of the staff with nothing to do.

"Have they figured out what was wrong with that Bludger?" Remus asked.

"Yeah. It's, er… it's kind of a long story, but it shouldn't happen anymore," Harry said. Remus hummed in acknowledgment. He certainly wanted to hear the story, however long it might be, but he supposed it would keep for the moment.

"Was there something you needed, Mr. Potter?" Filius asked.

"Yes, sir," said Harry. "You see, Ron Weasley's rat is missing-"

"Still?" Remus interjected. He had been there last week when Scabbers had originally gone missing. After the staff discussion as to what could have possibly Petrified Mrs. Norris and what ought to be done about it – a discussion that unfortunately had not gone much of anywhere – Remus had rushed immediately to the Gryffindor common room. He was pushed on partially by his own need to check on Harry more thoroughly after the attack and partially by Severus's glare. Severus would have undoubtedly preferred to check on Harry personally, but Remus's presence in Gryffindor was less likely to cause a stir, even if Severus was now Harry's guardian. Scabbers had been in Ron's lap when Remus arrived, but Remus only got the barest glimpse of the animal before it raced off and hid in some dark corner they had been unable to find even after an hour of searching.

Harry nodded. "We've been looking for him all week in between classes and stuff, and we think he's probably not even in Gryffindor Tower anymore. Ron's really worried, especially after what happened to Mrs. Norris."

"Quite understandable, but I'm afraid I haven't seen the creature, and I don't know any charms to locate him with if he's lost somewhere in the castle" Filius said.

"That's okay, we didn't think you had. Hermione came up with the idea of posting notices in all the common rooms, in case somebody else spots him. We put one up in Gryffindor and Draco took the one for Slytherin and Ron's talking to Professor Sprout and we were hoping you could put this one up in the Ravenclaw common room?" Harry asked, holding a piece of parchment up.

"Of course!" Filius squeaked. "Bring it here, and I'll take it up right after I finish my meeting with Professor Lupin."

"Thank you, sir." Harry walked up, and set the parchment down on the desk. It was a missing rat poster with a brief description of Scabbers, instructions to return him to Ron Weasley if found, and, right in the centre of the page, a picture of the Animagus form of Peter Pettigrew.

Remus's stomach dropped. A moment later he forced himself to shake it off. Scabbers and Wormtail were both fat grey rats, like thousands of other fat grey rats in the world. It was a coincidence; it was nothing. Peter was dead. Sirius had killed him and he was dead, not posing as a boy's pet. Except… "It says here Scabbers is missing one of his front toes?"

Harry nodded. "Ron says he was like that when Percy found him."

"I see," said Remus.

"Well, best of luck; I hope he turns up soon," Filius said.

"Thanks, professor."

"Let me know when you find him. And…." Remus hesitated. This was crazy, he was crazy for thinking it, but on the other hand, no harm in a little caution, right? "And once you do find him, you might think about keeping him in a cage. Just until everything dies down a little."

Harry considered that for a minute. "You're probably right. And you know, it'd probably be less stressful for Scabbers anyway – he's pretty lazy most of the time."

Remus attempted a smile. It didn't feel entirely forced. "Why don't you stop by my office for tea after classes tomorrow? I'll get a cage Ron can borrow for Scabbers and give it to you to give to him then."

"Alright," Harry agreed, clearly delighted with the prospect and apparently oblivious to Remus's unease. "And thanks again, Professor Flitwick." Harry left, and Remus and Filius returned to their prior conversation.

* * *

The next day Remus gave Harry a cage he'd borrowed from Silvanus Kettleburn and attempted to put the matter out of his mind. He was rather less than successful.

He knew he was being ridiculous. Scabbers was not Peter, despite the coincidence of the missing toe. Obviously being back in Hogwarts was making him nostalgic, and he was seeing things. There were other far more important things he should be focusing his attention on. Continuing his efforts to learn how to properly perform his job. Making up for lost time with Harry. Finding ways to avoid Gilderoy. Making up for lost time with Harry by helping him to avoid Gilderoy – harder than it seemed both because of Gilderoy's obsession with using Harry's fame to bolster his own and that fact that, no matter how underqualified, the man was technically one of Harry's professors. Then there were the attacks. While the first attack on Mrs. Norris might possibly have been a very cruel and dark sort of prank, but now with Colin Creevy in the hospital wing it was clear that this "Heir of Slytherin" was a real danger to the school. Of everything, that should be the concern constantly plaguing him. And yet Remus's mind kept returning to that picture of Scabbers.

The thing of it was even if it could be Peter why would it be? What possible reason would he have for posing as the Weasley pet rat? Certainly it would have made sense for him to transform when Sirius was attacking him – a rat could hide in places neither a human nor a dog could hope to fit into – but that had been eleven years ago. He could have revealed himself long ago. Plus if Scabbers really were Peter, then the only possible explanation for his sudden disappearing act on Halloween was he was trying to hide from Remus. Why would he do that? Even if there was something going on requiring Peter to keep up this charade, surely he would know he could come to Remus and get help. Who or what could Peter possibly be hiding from that he wouldn't even feel safe doing that? Peter wasn't like the rest of them could get – too proud or worried about protecting the others to share; Peter had never hesitated to go to his friend when he was in trouble.

Which lead to the only obvious conclusion – Scabbers couldn't possibly be Peter. For about the hundredth time, Remus firmly resolved to put the matter out of his head. Maybe this time it would stick.

As luck would have it, a distraction promptly presented itself, though on a second thought Remus wasn't sure exactly how lucky it was. Having Severus burst into his office unannounced was not an uncommon occurrence, however having him burst in unannounced without a goblet full of Wolfsbane and while the moon was half-full and waning was rather more perturbing. The explanation that immediately leapt to mind was something was wrong with Harry, but Remus couldn't see Severus seeking him out if that were the case. Making use of him when he was present and convenient certainly, but not going out of his way to solicit Remus's assistance.

Severus and Remus were not friends. It was entirely likely they would never be friends and, to be entirely honest, despite having made overtures in that direction Remus wasn't certain he wanted them to be. Severus was less nasty than he had been in his youth, but he was still very… acerbic. Then there was the memory of all the things Severus had done to Remus and his friends in that youth. Granted they, or more precisely James and Sirius, had started things more often than not, but Severus had always given as good as he got. It was all a bunch of schoolboy grudges, but schoolboy grudges were harder to let go of when there was nothing else to hold onto. Of course, he and Severus both had Harry now and while Harry wasn't James – nor was he Lily – he wasn't nothing either. So Remus kept making his overtures, and didn't let himself be offended when Severus kept rejecting them.

"Is there anything I can help you with?" Remus asked him.

Severus affixed him with an especially dour expression, though Remus suspected that in this case the dourness wasn't directed particularly at Remus himself. "Lockhart has received permission to start that duelling club he's been nattering on about and the Headmaster has instructed me to assist him."

Remus's lips twitched in a concealed show of mirth, but he was almost entirely genuine when he said, "My condolences." He would never say something so disrespectful of another professor in mixed company, so to speak, but Severus was hardly going to take exception to veiled disparaging comments aimed at Gilderoy. Well, perhaps the veiled part.

"Someone has to watch to make sure Lockhart doesn't end up maiming the whole lot of them," Severus said, sounding resigned.

"Probably not an unwarranted concern. Still I'm surprised you were volunteered for that role."

Not as a slight against Severus, though admittedly his personality was not best suited for the task. Remus just would have expected Dumbledore to have chosen Minerva, who was the Deputy Headmistress, or Filius, who had duelled professionally before going into teaching, or even Remus himself, who along with Gilderoy was the most junior member of the staff and was often stuck with the jobs no one else wanted to do.

"Undoubtedly Albus has his reasons." Severus's tone suggested he knew what those reason were, but was disinclined to share.

"He always does," Remus agreed mildly. If Severus didn't wish to share, then there was nothing to be gained by pressing the issue.

"However if I'm to be watching Lockhart, that leaves me unable to properly supervise and make sure the little dunderheads don't end up maiming each other," Severus said. "And if I'm to be saddled with that self-important oaf for an evening, I refuse to be the only one who has to suffer."

Remus blinked. "Are you saying you want me to help you supervise the duelling club?" So Severus really had sought him out for help. Though Remus supposed when faced with the prospect of an hour of trying to wrangle both Gilderoy and what would certainly be a large group of excitable children, reaching out for help suddenly became much less unappealing. And of course he'd come to Remus because Remus was the one he had the best chance of bullying into helping him.

"At least you I only have to worry about maiming the children on the night of the full moon." It was an unwarranted jab, but the worry behind it wasn't entirely unwarranted, Remus could admit. Besides which, in context the comment didn't seem like Severus was trying to express a worry at all. It seemed like Severus was saying he found Gilderoy to be more objectionable than Remus. Previously Remus had been sure only James, Sirius, and possibly Voldemort held that title. Abruptly Remus was put in mind of something he had overheard Harry saying about Severus to a Gryffindor first year: "He's not really mean, that's just the way he talks."

"I'm going to take that as a compliment," Remus decided.

"I can hardly stop you if you choose to indulge in fanciful notions," Severus drawled. "The first meeting of the Duelling Club is tomorrow evening at eight in the Great Hall."

"I'll be there," Remus said. Severus left without a word of goodbye or thanks, but Remus hadn't expected any different.

* * *

The following evening Remus arrived in the Great Hall fifteen minutes early to find the room populated by Severus, Gilderoy, and a handful of students who looked a bit like they weren't sure if they would be taking a bigger risk by trying to sneak out of the meeting or by staying.

"Ah, Professor Lupin, what brings you to our little club?" Gilderoy clapped him on the shoulder, then leaned in to mock-whisper conspiratorially, "Were you hoping to pick up a few tricks from me this evening as well?"

"I do try to remember that being a teacher now does not excuse me from needing to continue to learn. I would hate to become overconfident and arrogant about my abilities." Remus's tone was completely mild, but he still thought he saw the shadow of a smirk flicker across Severus's face. He definitely heard a sixth year Hufflepuff snicker, reminding him that he really shouldn't say things like that in front of students. Of course, there technically wasn't anything wrong with Remus expressing a desire not to become arrogant, and it was hardly his fault Gilderoy was so brazenly full of himself he could make a fifteen-year-old James look soft-spoken and humble.

"That's the spirit," Gilderoy said. "In fact I bet even I myself have a thing or two left to learn, eh?"

"Perhaps one or two," Remus agreed. "Though actually I'm here because Professor Snape expressed some concern that this club might prove too popular for the two of you to supervise all the students on your own. "

"That's Severus for you – always thinking ahead. I'm sure we'll be glad of your help; this lot can be quite a handful. Why in my first class with the second years, they managed to set a whole lot of pixies loose to wreak havoc in my classroom," Gilderoy said, before launching into a story that was very different than the version Remus had heard. From there Gilderoy began relating another story that did not seem even tangentially related to the first, then another and another. Remus smiled and nodded and looked for any reason to leave. He considered excusing himself to greet Harry when he and his friends walked in, but decided the risk that Gilderoy would follow him to harass Harry as well was too great. Ultimately Remus was unable to escape until Severus walked back over to them – having initially left in the midst of the pixie story – and made a pointed comment about the time.

"Of course, of course. Mustn't keep the students in suspense for too long," Gilderoy said, then hopped up on the stage to start the meeting. After the introductory remarks, Gilderoy and Severus took an opportunity to demonstrate the Disarming Charm – or more accurately Severus took advantage of an opportunity to send Gilderoy slamming into the wall with the Disarming Charm – then the three of them paired the students up to try the charm on each other. Remus tried to pair the students by skill level – pairing all the middle-of the-road students together while putting the students that were struggling with the ones who were more gifted – Gilderoy seemed to pair based solely on proximity, and Severus methods were rather more esoteric, at least as far as Remus could tell. Once everyone was paired off, Gilderoy counted down, and practice was begun.

Pandemonium descended immediately. Really, in addition to pairing the students off, they probably ought to have lined them up; disarmed students were flying every which way and crashing into each other. And that was only the students who had actually followed the instructions. There were a good number of other students who had decided to try out different spells altogether, and there was Millicent Bulstrode who had Ron Weasley in a headlock. The three professors quickly put a stop to the demonstration, cancelling out any spells that were still ongoing and making sure none of the students were seriously injured.

Once that was settled, Gilderoy suggested a volunteer pair give a practical demonstration of how to block unfriendly spells. "Longbottom, Granger, how about you?"

"A bad idea, Professor Lockhart," Severus said. "While Granger is no doubt eager to show off, Longbottom is unlikely to perform well in front of a crowd. How about Malfoy and Potter?"

"Excellent idea!" Gilderoy said, gesturing Harry and Draco to the middle of the hall while the rest of the students backed away to give them room. Severus seemed to have instructing Draco well in hand, so Remus approached Harry, who was being shown some sort of wiggling gesture with his wand by Gilderoy. Gilderoy then dropped his wand which Remus took as his cue to intercede.

"I think Harry might find a basic Shield Charm to be more effective for him than…"

"Dropping my wand?" Harry suggested.

"Don't cheek your professors," Remus said automatically.

"Now, now," Gilderoy said, picking up his wand and wiping it off, "I'm sure the lad was only joking. You may be right, Professor Lupin, Harry will probably do better with a less advanced technique than what I typically use. Why don't you demonstrate that for him?"

Remus obliged, teaching Harry the incantation and wand motion for the Shield Charm. "And don't be discouraged if you don't manage it, especially on your first try. There are a lot of adult wizards that don't know how to cast this," Remus concluded, giving Harry a pat on the shoulder. While he had been instructing Harry, Severus had been whispering to Draco, who had gone a bit wide-eyed but then nodded firmly. Satisfied that both students were ready, Remus stepped back and gestured to Gilderoy.

"Three – two – one – go!" Gilderoy shouted.

"_Protego_," Harry said, moving his wand in approximately the right motion.

Simultaneously, Draco brought his wand up and bellowed, "_Serpensortia!_"

A long black snake shot out of Draco's wand, fell heavily to the floor between the two boys, and raised itself, ready to strike. There were screams from the students swiftly backing away as Remus stood there for a moment in absolute shock.

A moment too long, unfortunately, as Gilderoy shouted, "Allow me!" and brandished his wand at the snake. There was a loud band and the snake flew ten feet into the air and fell back to the floor with a loud smack. Enraged, hissing furiously, it slithered straight toward Justin Finch-Fletchley and raised itself again, fangs exposed, poised to strike.

Remus reached out uselessly, barely missing grabbing a hold of Harry who was now running towards the snake. Then Harry began _hissing at the snake_. And somehow that caused the snake to flop docilely back down to the ground.

"What do you think you're playing at?" Finch-Fletchley shouted, then stormed out of the hall without waiting for an answer.

Severus stepped forward and vanished the snake into puff of black smoke. "Well," he prompted Harry. "What did you say to the snake?"

"I told it to leave Justin alone," Harry said, though that did little to quiet the ominous mutterings through the crowd.

"Oh, come on," Draco exploded. "It's not as though this is a surprise. We all already knew he was a Parselmouth."

"That was before the Heir of Slytherin was going around attacking people," Ernie Macmillan shouted from the crowd.

"You think _Harry Potter_ is the Heir of Slytherin?" Draco scoffed. "He's a _Gryffindor_." That didn't stop the mutterings either, but they sounded more thoughtful and even sceptical than they had been.

"Perhaps we best end for today?" Remus suggested to Gilderoy quietly.

"Yes. Yes, of course," Gilderoy said. He loudly announced the end of the meeting, and began shooing the students back off to their dormitories.

Remus took the opportunity to sidle up to Severus for a private word. "We all already knew Harry was a Parselmouth?" he said pointedly.

"At the beginning of last school year, Harry demonstrated the ability for his fellow first years. By the end of the week the entire school knew. By the end of the month, no one particularly cared anymore," Severus said.

"I see." That would explain why Remus had been out of loop. "In that case, I suppose it's merely unfortunate everyone was reminded now that they have a reason to care again."

"Someone would have remembered on their own sooner or later. It's better that it's been brought out in the open and dismissed as nonsense than to have people whispering behind closed doors," Severus disagreed. "If you'll excuse me."

Remus watched Severus sweep out of the room. Severus was right, it was better that it was out in the open. How very fortunate that Draco had chosen to use that particular spell. Right after Severus had whispered some unknown instruction in his ear.

Remus was getting the sneaking suspicion they had all just been treated to a show.

* * *

The following morning, Remus woke thinking of Sirius and Peter. Despite his continuing resolution not to do so, this was hardly an unusual occurrence. What made this particular morning of note was he was also thinking that maybe it had all just been a show.

Remus had always found it a little odd that Peter had gone after Sirius after James and Lily had died. Yes, he would have expected Peter to be upset and angry, but Remus never would have expected him to go rushing in without any kind of back-up. That just wasn't how Peter was. Normally he would have gone to Remus or Dumbledore or some member of the Order for help, especially since Sirius honestly way outclassed him in terms of duelling prowess. Remus had just assumed that showed how upset Peter really was. But what if that wasn't it? What if it seemed out of character for him because it was out of character? What if Peter hadn't actually done it at all? What if Peter had just planted himself in the middle of that street – a street full witness, all of them Muggle, unable to interfere in or truly understand what they were seeing – and waited for Sirius to come to him?

What if they had switched?

Remus could picture it. Lily – he was almost certain it had been Lily – would have pointed out everyone knew Sirius was going to be their Secret Keeper, which didn't make for much of a secret. James and Sirius would have adamant everything would be fine at first, but then Sirius's doubts would have begun to creep in. At the last minute they would have agreed to make the change, switching from Sirius to Peter. Peter, the real traitor and spy. Peter would have spent a week hiding in safety, fretting over the decision before he made it. Friendship meant that much to him, and that little. Finally he would have decided where his loyalties, what little of them he had, lie and given the Potters up to You-Know-Who.

Except, Harry hadn't died. Harry had lived, and You-Know-Who had fallen. Peter would have panicked. So he staged that scene to ensure Sirius was blamed for the deaths of James and Lily and the downfall of You-Know-Who, then went into hiding as a rat to save his own sorry skin. It all made perfect sense, and it fit the available evidence. It could be true.

Of course, the accepted story of Sirius being the traitor fit all the available evidence as well, if you assumed Remus was slightly delusional. Honestly, Remus probably _was_ slightly delusional. The trouble was he wanted Scabbers to be Peter. He wanted all of that to be true because if it was, then Remus still had one friend left who was neither dead nor a traitor. But wanting something didn't make it so, something Remus knew very well. Unfortunately knowing didn't stop him from wanting.

What he needed was proof, even if it was proof he was wrong. Disappointment he could handle, it was the unjustified unquenchable hope that would wear at him and drive him to distraction. Ideally, he would like to have Scabbers be found. Remus had already offered to give the animal a once over once he had been located to ensure he hadn't been harmed at all by his ordeal. While doing that it would be easy enough to sneak in the spell forcing Peter to reveal himself, if Scabbers really was Peter. Unfortunately, there was nothing Remus could do to help locate him besides keeping an eye open and checking in every so often to see if he had been found.

Thinking about it though, finding Scabbers wasn't the only way to get proof. Just because both versions fit all the evidence Remus had, that was not the same thing as fitting all available evidence. Sirius was in Azkaban now, which necessarily meant there had at some point been an arrest and a trial, neither of which Remus knew a thing about. After James, Lily, and Peter died, Remus had shut himself off from… well, from everything really. But especially everything surrounding Sirius. It had already felt like more than he could bear to know those three were dead, but to have Sirius be responsible for all their deaths… It had been much too much.

It had been over a decade since then however. He had had time to heal and move forward, even if the latter was only something he'd really started doing recently. He could handle it now. While it was obviously impossible to attend a trial that had happened over ten years ago, an arrest and trial meant arrest and trial records. The arrest records would be at least in part confidential, but the trial records should be available to the public. It was merely a matter of writing a letter to the Ministry requesting a copy of the records. This also had the advantage that now that Remus had actually done something toward addressing his dilemma, he was finally able to put it out of his mind for a bit.

On the other hand his brief respite from his worries might have had less to do with his ultimately very minor action and more to do with the Christmas holidays. There was a bit of a pall over some of the staff with just how very few students had chosen to stay over the holidays serving as a constant reminder of two students, the cat, and the ghost Petrified in the Hospital Wing, but Remus had no point of comparison from holidays previous so he was able to enjoy the relative quiet in the castle without caveats.

Really, it wasn't the quiet or the lack of students Remus enjoyed so much as the relative lack of duties and responsibilities. He did use some of the time over the holidays to get caught up on his grading and to review his upcoming lesson plans, but the majority of the rest of the time he spent with one student in particular. He had spent time with Harry during the school year, but it had been limited to joining Dumbledore's and Harry's weekly tea when he could and the occasional afternoon spent chatting and helping with homework in Remus's office or quarters. Now Remus was able to really spend time bonding with Harry.

Remus and Harry, and usually Ron and sometimes Draco or the other Weasleys – those being all of Harry's friends that had stayed at school for the break – spent a lot of time exploring the castle. It was a gift being able to show James's son all the nooks and crannies and secret passageways they had discovered back when they had been students here. That was, all the nooks and crannies open to students and the more innocuous secret passageways; being a professor, Remus couldn't take the kids to any of the restricted areas. Granted, technically Gryffindor and Slytherin students weren't allowed in each other's common rooms, but as it had really been the kids who had brought him along on those excursions, and it was the holiday break, and professors were supposed to encourage things done in the spirit of inter-House cooperation, Remus decided to let it slide.

The best part of the holiday, with Christmas dinner coming in at a close second was Christmas morning. Traditionally, all presents sent to the castle residents were collected by the House Elves and placed at the foot of each person's bed in the middle of the night. This meant that for professors Christmas morning was typically a quiet, private affair. Instead, Remus woke up to no presents and a letter on his bedside table instructing him to go to Gryffindor Tower. Remus gamely did so, and soon found himself in the common room where all five Weasleys, Harry, and most surprisingly – though perhaps not that surprisingly, all things told – Severus were gathered around a Christmas tree Remus was fairly certain hadn't been there the day before.

Severus spotted him first, but Harry did so soon after. "Remus is here," he announced, as he jumped up and raced across the room. Remus chuckled a little at Harry's unbridled enthusiasm, then let himself be dragged over to the rest of the group at he exchanged "good mornings" and "happy Christmas's" with them all. Harry deposited Remus in the armchair next to Severus's before joining Ron and Ginny on the floor again. Remus regarded the children with one last fond smile before turning to Severus with a quizzical look.

"The House Elves happen to catch wind of the fact Harry has never had a proper Christmas morning before," Severus explained. "They apparently took it upon themselves to put this together."

"Somehow I don't think this is what you were expecting would happen when the House Elves 'happened' to catch wind of things," Remus said. Severus looked impassively back and neither confirmed nor denied anything. "Well, maybe I ought to take Harry down to the kitchens tomorrow, so he can thank them personally."

"You want to set this group of hellions loose on the kitchens," Severus said, giving the children a sceptical look. Remus took his point, even if the children were rather undermining it at the moment: Percy had taken charge in organizing a turn-based system for passing out and unwrapping gifts, and for once his siblings were letting him. Still…

"The kitchens aren't off-limits to students," Remus said. It was true, even if the staff generally avoided letting the students know how to access the kitchens so they wouldn't bother the House Elves. "Besides, if the twins don't already know how to get into the kitchens, I'll eat my hat."

"You aren't wearing a hat," Severus pointed out dryly, but was prevented from further commentary when Harry dropped a lumpy parcel in either of their laps.

"What's this?" Remus asked. A gift, obviously, but he found it odd that he and Severus would have matching gifts. Unless they were from Harry, but he was holding a third parcel himself, and when Remus spared a look around it appeared everyone had one.

"They're Weasley jumpers," Harry explained. "We're going to take turns with the rest of the gifts, but Fred and George said we should all put on the jumpers Mrs. Weasley gave us first."

"I am not putting on a Weasley jumper," Severus said.

"You have to, Uncle Severus," Harry protested. "It's a tradition."

"Yeah, Uncle Severus," Fred said.

"It's tradition, Uncle Severus," George seconded.

Severus sent them a withering glare, and they both paled immediately. "We mean Professor Snape," Fred corrected, and George nodded fervently.

Severus turned back Harry. "I will open the jumper and I may change into it later, but I'm perfectly happy with my current attire at the moment."

"Okay, but you have to wear it to Christmas dinner," Harry said firmly. "It's a _family_ tradition." The word family was said with such feeling that Remus fully expected to see Severus in his jumper come Christmas dinner.

The rest of the morning passed enjoyably, if not always entirely smoothly. Little Ginny ran up and hid in her dorm room in embarrassment when she realized Harry had gotten her a gift – just a small box of chocolate frogs, obviously so she wouldn't feel excluded when Harry got gifts for her brothers – and she hadn't gotten him anything. Remus had had to fetch her down, as her brothers weren't able to follow her up to the girls' dorm, and only managed to do so by convincing her Harry's Muggle relatives would have only told Muggle fairy stories and Harry would like her old book of Wizard children's stories like his parents would have read to him before they died. Then there was the present Percy stuttered over and tried to hide when he came across it, only to have it whipped away by the twins, who proceeded to tease their brother mercilessly because it was from his secret girlfriend. Finally the possibly largest upset of the morning was when Percy ran up to his dorm to grab the last present – a brand new rat for Ron. Ron pitched a fit, insisting he didn't want another rat because Scabbers was still alive, and he hated all of them for giving up on him. The Ginny pitched a fit calling Ron selfish because now he had two rats and he had no right to be upset when she'd never gotten any pets at all. Percy tried to calm them down, which only resulted in the two rounding on him. Finally Remus stepped in and assured Ron he had not stopped looking for Scabbers. Ron, who had been so pleased by Remus's continuous solicitousness toward his missing pet that Remus had started to feel a little guilty, was mollified by that. Eventually a compromise was reached where Ron and Ginny would share the new rat – promptly dubbed Pigwidgeon by Ginny – until Scabbers was found, at which point Pig would go solely to Ginny.

Still, despite some minor upsets, it was a very good morning, followed by a good rest of the day, and then a good rest of the break. And then reality came to call again.

* * *

It was the Wednesday morning after the start of term that Remus's response from the Ministry came, in a worryingly thin envelope. It occurred to Remus that perhaps the Ministry had decided, given the circumstances, to classify the records surrounding Sirius's arrest and trial and this letter was merely a reply to tell him so. The most frustrating thing was Remus ended up having to spend the whole day fretting over the prospect. Minerva had seen him frowning at the letter when it arrived that morning, and as Remus was unwilling as yet to share why he was looking into Sirius's case, he'd had to wave off her concerns with a vague reply and stick the letter in his pocket. It was until classes were over for the day that Remus finally had a private moment to open it.

The envelope contained three pages and to Remus's relief the first page was a letter thanking him for his request and letting him know the specified documents were enclosed. Two pages hardly seemed anywhere near sufficient for all the records on the arrest and the trial, but it seemed reasonable to guess that arrest records and trial records might be handled by different departments. Perhaps instead of sending out a single response, each clerk had received and processed his request separately and sent out a separate response. These were presumably the arrest records and the undoubtedly much thicker trial records would hopefully arrive in the next few days.

The second page proved to be information on Sirius's arrest, as Remus had guessed. There were some things in the record Remus hadn't known before, but nothing of particular note or relevance to Remus's concerns. Still he read the page very carefully and thoroughly to make sure he missed nothing. Then he turned to the last page.

Remus stood abruptly, heedless of the way his chair skittered across the stone and nearly toppled over. He strode out of his office, slamming the door behind him. Normally he took his time walking through the halls, frequently stopping for small talk with other members of the staff or to chat with the students about how they were doing or about their homework. Today he didn't say a word to a single person he passed, and even Gilderoy took one look at his face and scurried out of the way. Remus barged his way into the Headmaster's office, slammed the page down on his desk, and demanded, "Did you know about this?"

That's when Remus realized he had probably taken his delusions a little too far.

"Sorry," he said, sitting down in one of the chairs opposite Dumbledore's desk. "But did you know?"

Remus half-expected Dumbledore to make a slightly teasing comment about Remus's lack of specificity, but he merely grabbed the sheet Remus had brought – the third one – and studied it carefully. His face took on a slightly sombre cast as he read, unhappy but resigned.

He placed the sheet back down on his desk. "I was aware of the general practice, yes. I objected strenuously, but it's not technically illegal, and I'm sure you remember what things were like at the time; no one was very concerned about preserving the rights of Death Eaters. I did not know about this particular incident however. After Sirius was arrested I divorced myself from anything to do with his case. I didn't trust myself to be impartial."

"I don't get the impression impartiality was a great concern with regards to Sirius's case," Remus said.

"No, I don't get that impression either," Dumbledore agreed, still unhappy, but still resigned to it.

Remus felt his ire flare up again. "He didn't get a trial. How can that possibly be legal?" he demanded.

Dumbledore sighed. "Summary judgement is a practice originally designed for civil cases. Specifically it's for use in cases where the evidence to what happened is so overwhelming – typically because both parties agree on the course of events – that the outcome of the trial is considered obvious. The proceedings move straight to judgement, and the time and expense of the trial are skipped."

"This isn't a civil case. And we've no idea if Sirius agreed on the course of events as there in no public record of any sort of questioning whatsoever," Remus said.

"You are correct on both counts, but a case doesn't necessarily need the total agreement of all involved for the evidence to be considered irrefutable, and due to a legal loophole, summary judgement isn't technically confined to civil cases."

"Sirius deserves a trial," Remus said firmly. No matter what he deserved one. If he were innocent then he deserved a chance to prove it. And if he were guilty… if he were guilty, if he had betrayed James and Lily and baby Harry and slaughtered Peter in cold blood then he deserved to have his shame trumpeted out and what he did to be laid indisputably down in black and white for all to see.

"I'm not saying I disagree with you, I'm merely providing the facts of the matter to you. And the fact is, while Sirius should have a right to a trial, people are hardly more concerned nowadays with the rights of Death Eaters than they were eleven years ago, and everything that has happened here is legal, so it's simply not possible to demand a trial for him. Unless of course there were a very compelling reason."

Dumbledore gave him an expectant look, and Remus found himself tongue-tied. He'd known that if as he continued investigating reality continued to support, or at least not contradict, his delusions, then eventually he would need to share his concerns. He just hadn't thought he would need to do it so soon and had no plan for what he was going to say. Finally he opened his mouth and the first words that came tumbling out were, "Ron Weasley's rat is missing."

"I presume you're referring to Scabbers and not Pigwidgeon, as it would be most unfortunate for him to have lost two pets in such quick succession," Dumbledore said.

"Yes, I meant Scabbers. He ran off on Halloween night, at exactly the same time as when I arrived to check on Harry." Remus took in a deep breath. "Scabbers is also missing a toe on his front paw."

That shouldn't have been enough for Dumbledore to put things together, but there was a reason he was known as the greatest wizard of the century, even beyond simple magical prowess. Remus could almost see the thoughts clicking together behind his eyes. "Can I assume all four of you were unregistered Animagi?" he asked.

Remus swallowed. "No. Just the other three."

"I see," Dumbledore said. Remus's heart sunk. There, etched in the lines of Dumbledore's face, was the disappointment he had dreaded ever since that first full moon the four of them had spent together. "That was a very foolish and dangerous thing for you to have done."

"I know," Remus said, feeling smaller than he ever had before.

Dumbledore sighed. "But then, teenage boys often do foolish things. Perhaps we the adults were at fault for not keeping a better eye on all of you."

"No, it was our fault – my fault, Headmaster," Remus insisted. "We were reckless and caught up in our own cleverness. I betrayed your trust and lead the others astray with me."

"As I said, you were all just boys at the time. Can I assume you won't betray my trust in such a way again now that you aren't so young and foolish?"

"Of course! I stick to the safety precautions we agreed upon," Remus said.

"In that case I recommend we skip the dispensing of blame and content ourselves with the knowledge that in the end no harm was done." Dumbledore smiled at him and Remus smiled back, feeling a huge weight lift from his shoulders. "So Peter Pettigrew was, and maybe still is, a rat Animagus. James and Sirius?"

"James was a stag and Sirius is a dog," Remus answered. "A very large black dog."

Dumbledore chuckled. "Sirius the dog. How appropriate. I take very large to mean too large to slip between the bars on a prison cell?"

Yes," Remus said. He had told himself over the years that since Sirius's Animagus form couldn't be used to slip out of his cell, it didn't matter if Remus kept the secret and if Sirius had been the rat and Peter the dog, then Remus would have come forward. Of course, if Sirius had been the rat and Peter the dog, then maybe they wouldn't be in this situation at all.

"And you believe Ron Weasley's rat Scabbers to actually be Peter?" Dumbledore asked.

"I can't be sure, since I never even saw him in person. But I did see a picture of him and with the missing toe… I believe it's possible."

Dumbledore nodded. "And how would that fit in with Sirius receiving his much deserved and very much belated trial?"

So Remus told him. He told Dumbledore about all his concerns, the worries and suspicions that had been nagging at him since he saw the missing poster for Scabbers. He told him about the Duelling Club and the revelation Severus and Draco's little act had inspired. He told him about the way the pieces had fallen together after that, creating a whole that was more convoluted than the narrative they'd all been told, but made so much more sense. The whole time Dumbledore listened without interruption, and the quiet spurred Remus on. There were more and more questions, more incongruities, all the evidence that was suddenly conspicuous by its absence. All of it came pouring out of him and into Dumbledore's open ears.

When Remus finished, Dumbledore was silent for a minute or so longer, considering. "We can't be certain at this point, with so little solid information to go on, but I believe your story sounds possible."

A relieved breath came whooshing out of Remus. It was gratifying to finally be able to share his theory with someone and be told his delusions might not be entirely delusional. "Do you think it's likely?" he asked.

"Likely enough to warrant further investigation," Dumbledore said. "You pointed out earlier that Sirius was never questioned with regards to the charges against him. That is where I will start."

"You'll be able to get into visit him? I didn't know visitors were allowed in Azkaban," Remus said.

"Oh yes. Getting permission to visit Azkaban isn't terribly difficult, even for high security prisoners like Sirius. Most people just aren't aware of it because no one ever wishes to visit. The difficulty will be in arranging an entirely secret visit. If I were to go through the normal channels, some especially intrepid reporter may find out and decide to write a story speculating on why I might have gone to visit such a high profile prisoner. If Sirius is indeed guilty, then I would have no qualms with sharing my motives, but if you are correct and Peter is both Scabbers and the person who truly betrayed the Potters, then we can't risk him finding out we're investigating the case. The best case scenario then would be for him to flee and take up the life of a pet rat with some family in the French countryside. It's also possible he'll flee, but to his master's side. Or if he's still in the castle he might hurt the children. He might go after Harry."

"I understand. Harry's safety comes first." If Sirius were innocent, then that's what he would want. And if he were guilty, then Remus didn't care what he wanted either way. "How long do you think it will take for you to arrange a visit?"

"Oh, a few weeks I should think," Dumbledore said. Remus blinked in surprise. With the way Dumbledore was talking he had been expecting something on the order of months. Dumbledore smiled knowledgably. "I know I said it would be difficult, but I am a man of many talents. I will let you know when I have a chance to speak with him, and what I uncover."

* * *

AN: A thing I swore wasn't going to happen, and yet here it is happening. Story of my life. The good news for you my lovelies, is we're sticking to three chapters on this one, chapter two is already finished and ready to be posted a week from today, and hopefully with two weeks lead time and momentum (and some encouragement, maybe?) I will get this finished in a reasonable time frame. And then I'm definitely, one hundred percent, absolutely, positively, for reals done with this series. Probably.


	2. Chapter 2

Dumbledore remain true to his prediction and as January drew to a close just over three weeks later, he mentioned over breakfast he would be out for the day as he had an appointment. Pomona had asked where he was going to which Dumbledore had been vague which had caused Severus to be suspicious, but as those two were almost always vague and suspicious, no one had really thought much about it. Even Remus had been a bit distracted by other concerns – specifically what the Weasley twins were up to at the Gryffindor table and whether he wanted to intervene or wait to see how it played out.

However, the conversation came immediately back to mind when Dumbledore showed up to his office early that evening. His expression gave away nothing, not due to blankness but because Remus could ascribe so many possible causes for the grim set of Dumbledore's face, it was impossible to determine which it was. "You met with Sirius?" Remus asked.

"I did," Dumbledore said. He took a seat opposite Remus. "I spoke with him at great length today. I did not initially let him know what had been the immediate impetus for my visit, merely asked him for his version of events starting with the casting of the Fidelius Charm on the Potters. He told me that at the last minute he convinced Lily and James to switch Secret Keepers to Peter. From there his story was very like the theory you proposed, with the obvious caveat that he is not aware of Scabbers."

Remus searched Dumbledore's face, but there were no answers to be read there. "Do you believe him?"

Silence greeted Remus's question. Only for a moment, just long enough for Dumbledore to briefly close his eyes and let out an exhale, but it seemed to stretch on for a century. "I do."

The words hit Remus like a physical blow. It was only then that he realized that even as a part of him wished to be right, how very much another part of him wished to be wrong. Because if Peter were dead and Sirius a traitor, then that was a tragedy, but it was a tragedy that Remus was accustomed to. It was an old wool jumper, pilled and fraying and worn, but comfortable in its own way. But if Sirius hadn't betrayed James and Lily then an innocent man, Harry's godfather, Remus's best friend – the only one alive and still worthy of the title – had spent eleven years in Azkaban. Eleven years of constant torment. And it was Remus's fault.

"I think the best option in this situation would be to move for a trial on the basis of new evidence," Dumbledore was saying. "After speaking with Sirius I feel confident we'll be able to build a strong enough case to get him exonerated. The trial itself will be as big and public as I can manage, but for now I think it best we keep things as quiet as possible, at least until we catch Scabbers and determine if he is indeed Pettigrew."

Dumbledore paused, and Remus nodded because he felt that was what expected of him. "Ah, my apologies," Dumbledore said. "We can discuss this more later if you prefer."

"Yes, thank you," Remus said. "I think I'll retire for the evening."

Kindly Dumbledore did not point out it was only half six, merely bid Remus a good night and rose to leave.

"Headmaster?" Remus said just as Dumbledore reached the door.

"Yes?"

"Lily would have been the one to first come up with the idea to switch Secret Keepers," Remus said.

"Sirius seemed quite insistent it was his idea."

"Sirius has spent…" Remus swallowed and tried again. "Sirius has spent the past eleven years in the company of Dementors. He may have changed his mind last minute and persuaded James to make the change, but I'm certain Lily would have had the idea first."

"Then I shall pass on your certainty to Sirius when next I see him. It wouldn't do for him to be blaming himself for things that aren't his fault." The irony in Dumbledore's tone did not pass Remus's notice, but he felt too tired to argue with how unwarranted it was.

"Please do. Thank you," was all he said before slipping through the door to his quarters.

He stood just inside the doorway for a minute. Dinner. Before Dumbledore had showed up, Remus had been planning on finishing up some grading and then heading down to the Great Hall for dinner. Instead he called a House Elf and had his dinner served at the small table next to his kitchenette. He ate methodically. He wasn't hungry, but the thought of food wasn't repulsive either, so he ate because that was what one did. He ate and stared at the wall and tried not to think about…

It was a good thing. He reminded himself this was a good thing. He had wanted this. If Dumbledore was right – and he usually was – then Sirius was innocent. Sirius was innocent and would be freed as quickly as could be managed, and Remus would have his friend back. Assuming Sirius didn't… They had always forgiven each other before, hadn't they? But Remus couldn't think of anything any of them had ever done nearly as bad as this, and Sirius didn't have a particularly forgiving nature. Still…

Remus finished his food. He called the House Elf back, and she took the dishes away. After a minute he decided there was no point in sitting at the kitchen table if he wasn't eating. He sat on the sofa instead and stared at the wall.

The thing was, he was supposed to be brave, wasn't he? He'd been sorted into Gryffindor and Gryffindors were brave. But he wasn't. Remus had always been afraid of being a bother or a burden or upsetting people, so he'd let others take the lead. Even joining the Order, that hadn't really been bravery. James and Sirius had decided to join first and Peter had followed and Remus had gone along with the rest of them. Then when everyone had said Sirius had betrayed James and Lily and killed Peter, even though Remus should have known better, should have known Sirius would never join You-Know-Who, could never betray James, Remus had accepted their words. He had betrayed Sirius just a thoroughly as Peter had. He was…

There was a knock on the door. Remus stared at it blankly for a minute, trying to guess who it could possibly be. A well-meaning staff member he eventually decided. Remus's absence at dinner would not have gone unnoticed, and while Dumbledore was sure to have told them Remus was fine and just in need of a little privacy for the evening, someone had elected to come check on him anyway.

"Come in," he said. He didn't want to talk with whoever it was, but it seemed politer to allow them in, assure them he was fine, then request privacy rather than shouting through the door.

The door opened. It wasn't a well-meaning staff member.

"Harry," Remus said in surprise.

"Hi Remus. Er… You weren't at dinner tonight, and afterward Professor Dumbledore came up and told me that I should come see you?"

Remus couldn't help himself. He laughed. That only seemed to heighten Harry's sense of concern. "Are you alright?" he asked.

"I'm fine," Remus assured him. "I just got some personal news this evening and it was a bit…"

"Upsetting?" Harry guessed.

"Unsettling," Remus corrected. "I think the Headmaster was right and I could do with a distraction. If you wouldn't mind joining me for a while?"

"Sure," Harry said.

"Thank you. Come have a seat. I know you just finished dinner, but I could make you some tea if you like."

Harry gave Remus an assessing look before saying, "I'll have some if you have some," in a tone that suggested Remus was being mothered by a twelve-year-old boy. It was honestly somewhat amusing. Harry really was a sweet boy.

So Remus made them both tea, pulled out a tin of biscuits, and they sat on the sofa and talked for a while. They discussed the new term and how Harry was enjoying it so far. Harry caught Remus up on what he and his friends had been up to recently, and Remus shared a few carefully selected anecdotes about the other classes he was teaching and the rest of the staff. They spent a long time dissecting the upcoming Quidditch match between Hufflepuff and Slytherin and how the outcome would affect Gryffindor's chances at the cup. Remus had never been nearly as interested in Quidditch as his three friends, but he couldn't have made it through a decade of friendship without learning how to discuss the subject intelligibly.

The evening went well, and Remus found it to be a pleasant and helpful diversion from his previous train of thought. Right up until Harry was leaving, when he said… well it wasn't really about precisely what he said. It was about the way he'd said it – like he'd accepted the idea that adults around him might be interested in his well-being, but he was still baffled by the concept – that hit Remus like a punch to the gut.

"Harry, I…" _I'm terribly sorry._ Because in his cowardice, he had failed Harry too.

Two nights after the day of Harry's christening, Remus had sat across from Lily at the Potter's kitchen table while James had paced back and forth, gently bouncing the infant Harry. Lily had reached over and touched the back of Remus's hand and said, "I hope you know even though we named Sirius his godfather, we consider you and Peter as honorary godfathers too." James had paused long enough in his bouncing journey to clasp Remus on the shoulder and say, "Of course Moony knows that." That was what had been on Remus's mind – the touch of a hand, the clasp of a shoulder – on November 2, 1981 when he'd finally managed to track Dumbledore down and ask where Harry was.

Remus had been relieved when Dumbledore had told him Harry was safe with his relatives. And, to his shame, Remus had been relieved again when he'd been informed Dumbledore had had to offer the promise that no member of wizardkind would bother the Dursleys while they raised Harry. Remus had allowed himself to accept Dumbledore's word as absolute and his duty discharged, and had sunk deep into his own depression.

If Remus were braver, if he had behaved like a Gryffindor ought to, like James would have, then he wouldn't have allowed himself to be relieved by that. He would have refused to accept a promise Dumbledore had made as binding on his behalf, and insisted that he could be discrete and polite and behave as inoffensively Muggle as the Dursleys wished, but he was the only godfather Harry had left and he would visit him. Then maybe Remus could have saved him from those terrible people much earlier and maybe Harry never would have sounded as he had just now.

And yet, even knowing all that, Remus's attempts to apologize and explain merely clogged up in his throat and died in his mouth. "I... You… you are the most important person in the worlds to me, Harry." It wasn't an apology – and really, how could Remus ever apologize for such a magnificent failure? – but it was a promise. A promise that from this moment forward he would be brave, at least for Harry's sake.

Harry's eyes went wide. "Are you dying?"

"No! No of course not," Remus reassured him. "I just wanted you to know because it's true."

"Oh." For a moment Harry looked completely overwhelmed by Remus's pronouncement. Then he shuffled forwarded and wrapped his arms around Remus, burying his face into his robes. "I love you too."

Remus hugged Harry back and smiled to himself. For Harry, for the touch of a hand and the clasp of a shoulder and for Harry, Remus would be brave. And he knew exactly what he needed to do next.

* * *

Not more than twenty minutes after Harry had left, Remus was knocking on the door to Severus's office. He had confirmed in the staff room on the way down Severus didn't have patrol this evening, and it was early enough he might still be in his office rather than having already gone into his private quarters for the night. Luckily, after a moment Severus opened the door, only to give Remus the most withering look possible. "I have no idea what possessed you to come here of all places, but I have no desire to help you work through whatever personal problems you're having. Good evening," he said, swinging the door shut again.

"It concerns Harry," Remus said quickly.

Severus paused for a moment. Eventually he pulled the door back wide and then turned away and glided back to his desk. It wasn't precisely an invitation, but Remus assumed it was the closest thing he was going to get to one. He followed after Severus, carefully closing the door behind him before taking a chair on the opposite side of the desk. Severus regarded him with an expression that made it clear he expected Remus to explain whatever it was as quickly and with as few words as possible.

"There is a matter I have been working on, in conjunction with Dumbledore. He feels that for the moment this matter needs to remain as quiet as possible, and I agree with him. However, as it will have an impact on Harry, I feel he deserves to be told, and I wished to discuss it with you first. I was looking into it recently, and I discovered Sirius Black never received any sort of trial."

"As Harry is already aware of Black, his history with James Potter, and the exact actions Black undertook to get him thrown into Azkaban, I fail to see how the intricacies of the judicial process should be of any interest to or concern of Harry's."

"It concerns Harry because Dumbledore is beginning to process to get Sirius his trial."

"Absolutely not," Severus said.

"I'm afraid it's not up for debate," Remus said.

"You're right, it's not up for debate. Black handed Lily and Potter over to their deaths and killed Pettigrew and a dozen Muggles besides, and the only thing a trial would accomplish is giving a proven murderer a chance to walk free."

"He hasn't been proven to be anything yet; that's the purpose of the trial," Remus pointed out calmly.

"The dead bodies of your friends and the eyewitness testimony of over twenty different people isn't proof enough for you? Must you see him use the Killing Curse right in front of you to believe him guilty?" Severus demanded.

"No, but the eyewitnesses you mention were all Muggles. I don't doubt the value and intelligence of Muggles, but I do question the validity of their eyewitness testimony in a confrontation between two wizards when they don't have the knowledge or context to fully understand what they're seeing. They can't identify what curse was used or who cast it."

"Of course, I forgot. Sirius Black is too much a good-natured prankster to ever actually hurt anyone," Severus said, nearly spitting with rage. "I'm sure there was a Death Eater lurking in the bushes, and he was the responsible for the deaths of Pettigrew and the Muggles. Not fun-loving Black. And what's your explanation for Lily and Potter's deaths? Perhaps the Dark Lord tortured the information out of him, and then let Black go on his merry way afterward."

Remus waited until he was quite certain Severus was done, then answered. "My explanation, the same explanation as the one Sirius independently gave to Dumbledore when he went to see him today, is Sirius never gave away the Potter's location because he never had the information in the first place. James and Lily switched Secret Keepers at the last minute without telling anyone. When his betrayal of them instead resulted in You-Know-Who's apparent death, Peter, the actual Secret Keeper, allowed an enraged Sirius to catch him and used the opportunity to cement the framing of Sirius as the guilty one and to fake his own death."

Severus stared at him incredulously. "I know that wolves are pack animals, but I hadn't realized the lack of one had caused you to become completely delusional."

"It makes sense," Remus said. "And they never did find Peter's body, only one of his fingers."

"It's convoluted, not the least because not finding a body after a massive explosion is hardly conclusive evidence of anything. Black is guilty. It's simple, straightforward, and it's the truth."

"It doesn't explain the fact that I saw Peter just the other day. Or at least I think I did."

"That doesn't count for anything; we've already established you're delusional. You expect me to believe after successfully faking his death and living in hiding for eleven years Pettigrew suddenly decided to go for a stroll in Hogsmeade?" Severus asked.

"I didn't see him in Hogsmeade, I saw him here, in the castle." Remus took in a deep breath. "Peter is an unregistered rat Animagus."

Remus had expected more dismissal and incredulity. What he received was more anger. "Why is he still an _unregistered_ Animagus?" Severus demanded.

"I don't…"

"More to the point, if Pettigrew was an Animagus then no doubt the rest of your little gang was too, so why is Black, the man guilty of causing the deaths of your other two friends, still unregistered?"

"Sirius's form is a large dog; it's too big to aid in any attempts to escape Azkaban. I-"

"I don't care if he transforms into a beached whale, the very second you'd found out what he'd done, you should have come forward. Not doing so shows a disrespectful, reckless disregard for anyone else, and–"

"You're right," Remus said, interrupting Severus's tirade and throwing the other man completely off-balance. "I was being selfish and a coward. But I have since told Dumbledore, so if Sirius is still unregistered it's presumably because Dumbledore has a compelling reason for keeping things that way for the moment. All of which is very important, but sidesteps the point I was trying to make about having seen Peter here at Hogwarts."

"I don't care that you saw some rat scurrying in some back corner…" Severus paused as Remus watched comprehension dawn in his features. "You have been remarkably concerned about the Weasley boy's rat. You can't possibly be trying to imply you think Pettigrew successfully managed to frame Black for a crime he committed and faked his own death all for the luxury of living as a _child's pet_."

"I didn't say it was a reasonable course of action. It's frankly ridiculous, but under those specific circumstances it is something I could see Peter doing," Remus said.

"Fine, I grant you that Pettigrew was an idiot and a coward. However, I fail to see how that translates into setting Black free. If you're that desperate for companionship, go get yourself an actual dog," Severus sneered.

"Do you want me to admit I would like to have one of my friends, one who is neither dead nor traitor, back? Fine, yes, I freely admit it," Remus snapped. "But this is not about me. It is not about Sirius and it is not about you and your old grudges, Severus. This is about finding the certain and irrefutable truth of what happened that night. This is about James and Lily. I know you don't care about James, but Lily was your friend, your family even. Don't you want to know who the man who betrayed her is?"

Severus leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes, a pained expression briefly flickering past his face. "I assure you, Lupin, that much I already know." There was a beat of silence that Remus was sure said more than he would ever be able to fathom, and then Severus let out the smallest of sighs. "All right, have your trial. I'm sure Albus has already made up his mind, and I was never able to change it with regards to Black anyway. Have it, but not now. Wait."

"Wait? Sirius has already been in Azkaban for eleven years without the benefit of a trial."

"So he won't mind waiting a while longer," Severus replied. "Now is not the time for this. Someone claiming to be the Heir of Slytherin is attacking the students; despite my efforts and the sheer idiocy of the notion something like a quarter of the school suspects Harry of being behind it; Lucius Malfoy is up to something and if he is not either directly or indirectly responsible for the attacks himself, then he will certainly be taking advantage of them; and on top of all that Harry is-"

Severus cut himself off abruptly, and Remus regarded him with curiosity and alarm. "Harry is what?"

Severus looked at him for a long moment. "This does not leave this room. I neither want nor require your help with this matter, and I am only telling you about it so you understand the full gravity of the situation."

Remus nodded. "I understand."

Severus watched him a second longer, then said, "Harry is hearing voices."

"He's hearing voices? In his head you mean?" Remus asked.

"I have not yet determined if the voices are merely in his head, or if there is some external factor causing them, in part because he's only had these hallucinations twice so far. Regardless, you see now why he can't possibly be subjected to any additional stress at the moment."

"Yes, but…" Remus sighed. "I do see your point, but there will always be reasons to delay if you want to find them. There will always be something else going on, that's the nature of life. Ultimately, if the voices are being caused by something external, then I doubt any stress Harry feels due to the trial – which shouldn't really be that much as the trial is stressful as a concept, not because it requires anything of him – shouldn't worsen matters. If Harry has… mental health issues that need to be addressed, then the treating of them is likely to take a long time, time during which Harry is going to have to deal with stress sooner or later."

"And I would prefer it to be later," Severus said.

"If you want to debate timing with Dumbledore, then I can't stop you. My concern is Harry be told about the trial in private by someone he trusts, not by the Daily Prophet in the middle of the Great Hall the morning after the press finally catches wind of it. He's your charge, so it's your decision to tell him or not, but if you choose not to, I will not let the matter rest until you change your mind. If you don't… have the time to discuss it with him, then I would be happy to do it," Remus said, at the last second swapping out an assertion Severus might feel himself incapable of having the discussion with Harry. Certainly Remus wouldn't be surprised if he were, but no need to antagonize the man. Not any more than he already had at any rate.

Severus considered the matter for a moment. "You will tell him, and you will do so without biasing him with regards to Black's innocence or guilt. Further, you will have the conversation with him here where I can observe you and be sure you hold to that."

The first request Remus was able to agree to readily, but Severus's second mandate had him hesitating. Severus sneered. "You have no problem agreeing to be fair and unbiased, as long as no one tries to hold you accountable to that promise? How very true to form."

It was not an entirely unfair assessment of Remus's behaviour in the past, specifically when he had been a prefect, but he had grown since then. "I have no problem with you observing or being a part of the conversation. My only reservation was your particular choice of location. Your office is private, but not especially personable. I really think this is a conversation best had somewhere where Harry can feel relaxed and comfortable. The Gryffindor common room would be ideal, if not for all the other students. I had been thinking of talking to him in my quarters, but Dumbledore's office might work, so long as we sit around the tea table and not at the desk."

"Not Albus's office. Between the both of you, there would be no chance of Harry leaving the conversations without fanciful notions of Black the hero running through his head," Severus said. "I will pick a time and location, and will let you know once I have."

* * *

Despite being the one to propose this meeting and the one to set the criteria for the location and despite being able to follow the clear chain of logic from there to the current situation, Remus still felt entirely uncertain how he ended up here. Here being sitting next to Harry on the settee in Severus's quarters while Severus sat in the arm chair opposite. It was quite possibly the last place Remus had ever expected to find himself, which was perhaps the reason he found the familiarity of the rooms so disconcerting. Save for Severus's two packed bookshelves to Remus's single still sparsely-populated one, their two sets of quarters were very nearly identical. It made sense that all the staff's quarters would contain the same basic layout, but Severus had accumulated almost nothing in the way of personal items in the over a decade he had been inhabiting these rooms. But then, that at least was honestly not that surprising.

Harry settled himself into his seat and looked warily back and forth between Severus and Remus. "Am I in trouble?" he asked.

"Should you be?" Severus drawled.

"Er… no?" Harry said. Remus watched with fascination as Severus did nothing more than stare at Harry impassively, somehow causing the boy to fidget with nerves more and more with each passing second. "It was only a prank!" Harry burst out. "And Fred and George thought it was funny! Honest."

Remus hid a smile of amusement. "Well, I suppose as long as no one got hurt, then we can probably let it go, just this once. What do you think, Professor Snape?"

"I suppose so. But I better not discover that you've been breaking school rules in the course of your pranking," Severus said, and Harry shook his head emphatically.

"No sir. Thank you. But, er… That's not actually what you wanted to talk to me about, is it?" Harry asked.

"No, it's not. We had a rather more serious matter we wished to discuss with you," Remus said. "Now Severus has told me that you're already familiar with the situation surrounding your parent's deaths, as well Sirius Black's role in that and his actions immediately afterward, correct?"

"Yes, sir," Harry agreed with a tight nod.

"Good," Remus said. This conversation would be difficult enough without having to recount all that as well. "What I discovered recently is Sirius was never put to trial for those crimes."

Harry wore a puzzled frown. "But he's in wizard jail, right? Azkaban? How could Black be in jail if there was never a trial?"

"At the time it was felt there was sufficient evidence to find Sirius guilty without need for a trial," Remus told him.

"Oh. Well, I guess that's okay then," Harry said.

"It's not," Remus corrected gently. "Maybe in the case of smaller crimes it might be okay sometimes, but these are very big, very serious things he's been accused of. They shouldn't have sentenced him without first having a trial to be certain they'd considered every reasonable explanation and knew Sirius being guilty was the correct one. In fact, Professor Dumbledore went to speak with Sirius a few days ago, and he had a different explanation that also fit what we know currently." For the third time Remus explained his theory as to how Sirius might be innocent, though this time he framed it solely as being Sirius's side of the story.

After he was finished Harry sat quietly for a minute, processing the information. "Does that mean Sirius was the dog from the Prank War of 1975?"

Well. That certainly hadn't been the first question Remus had been expecting. "Yes, he was."

Harry nodded thoughtfully. "And you think Scabbers is actually Peter Pettigrew."

"I don't know if he is or isn't. All I can say is it's possible he is."

"Ron's not going to be happy about that. He's practically given Pig to Ginny already because he's convinced Scabbers is going to come back." Yes, and Remus was still feeling a bit guilty over that. Both about Ron having lost his pet – though intellectually he did realize if Scabbers was Peter, then Remus was hardly responsible for his actions – and about Ron's relentless optimism over Scabbers potential return. Maybe once all this was sorted he ought to buy the boy an apology gift. Not another rat though. An owl, perhaps.

"Mr. Weasley is not going to find out about it, not until after the rat has been captured or Black's trial had gone public. I am certain Lupin mentioned as much to you when he was explaining the situation just now," Severus said.

"Yeah, but I didn't think he meant I couldn't talk to my friends about it," Harry protested. "They won't tell anyone if I tell them not to. They didn't tell anyone about Professor Quirrell and You-Know-Who; Draco didn't even tell his dad about it."

Given Severus's passing comment a few days ago that Lucius Malfoy was up to something, Remus had his doubts about that, but he could hardly prove anything. What's more Severus was now giving Harry a decidedly thoughtful look. "You understand that if the rat is Pettigrew and Pettigrew is guilty, then him finding out about the pending trial prematurely would essentially eliminate any chance of catching him?"

"Yes sir," Harry agreed.

"And that further would mean not only would one of the men responsible for the death of your parents would escape justice, but Pettigrew might attempt to return to the Dark Lord, providing him with an ally and a chance to return to power once again?"

Harry quailed under that question, but after a moment nodded resolutely. "Yes sir."

"Additionally, should Draco Malfoy choose to inform his father about the upcoming trial for Black, it's entirely possible the elder Malfoy will attempt to block the trial from taking place at all."

"Because if Pettigrew is on You-Know-Who's side, then Mr. Malfoy would want him to stay free instead of Sirius?" Harry asked.

Severus snorted. "I'm very certain Lucius could not care less about Pettigrew. He would only be concerned with the Black family coffers." When Harry's brow wrinkled in confusion, Severus explained further. "Narcissa Malfoy is a Black by birth, Sirius Black's cousin, and at present the strongest claimant to the Black fortunes once Black passes. However, if Black were released from prison he might produce his own heir, or otherwise muddy the waters."

Harry nodded. "Draco's dad is pretty selfish. But Draco's plenty rich already, so I'll bet he'd be willing to forget to tell his dad about it, if I asked him to. Besides, that means Sirius is Draco's cousin; I bet he'll want to meet him too once he hears. I can tell him, right? As long as I swear him to secrecy?"

"Since, as you pointed out, the castle is not currently abound with rumours regarding the Dark Lord and Professor Quirrell, I believe you have proven your judgement trustworthy," Severus said with finality, if a small measure of reluctance.

Harry fairly beamed at the man. "Thank you!"

"Just make sure you inspect any corners for rats before you tell them, okay?" Remus added, and Harry nodded enthusiastically. "Good. Now do you have any more questions about any of this?"

"I do have one more question," Harry said. "I was just wondering if you thought Sirius was innocent." Remus assumed the question was meant for the both of them, but Harry was looking right at him when he said it, putting Remus in a bit of a predicament. He glanced over Severus, as this one the one thing Severus had explicitly told Remus not to answer, but Severus showed no inclination to interject. Harry had given Remus the rope, and now Severus was willing to see if he would hang himself with it.

"It's like I said before, the purpose of the trial is to find out the truth of what happened. That's the most important thing, figuring out the truth with absolute certainty, or at least as much as we can manage. Because of that, it doesn't make sense for us to come to any conclusions about what we think happened beforehand," Remus said.

"Oh. Okay," Harry said, clearly not pleased with the lack of a definitive yes or no, but unable to find any real fault with Remus's answer. "Thanks for telling me all this."

Remus smiled at him. "Of course."

* * *

Things quieted down for a while after that, as unlikely as it seemed given all that was going on at the moment. Granted there were still the odd mishaps here and there – the fiasco that was Gilderoy's Valentine's surprise for one – but they were all isolated incidents unrelated to any of the larger issues at hand. The preparations for Sirius's trial and the efforts to actually secure him a trial had been taken over by Dumbledore, so Remus attempted to take the advice he had given Harry and not worry about it for the moment. Surprisingly, and despite Scabbers still being at large, he was mostly successful. It did help he received regular updates from Dumbledore, frequently enough to reassure Remus positive progress was being made without being so frequent to keep the matter constantly top of mind.

He was also probably helped by the hopeful air that had begun to grip the school at large. As winter gave way to spring which inched ever closer to summer, there had been no new attacks. Pomona's mandrakes were getting closer to maturity all the while, and the students had decided these two things meant everything was all right now and would be completely back to normal soon. Most of the staff, Remus included, knew they ought to be more realistic about the situation, since they had as yet to determine who was behind the attacks and how they were pulling them off, but the optimism of the students was incredibly infectious.

Perhaps that's why it hit them all so especially hard when Hermione Granger and Penelope Clearwater were found Petrified.

The evening after the attack found Remus sitting in his office putting together personalized lesson plans. When he'd heard about the attack, the first inane and irrelevant thought to cross his mind was those two were going to be so upset at missing classes. He'd dismissed it as unimportant at first in comparison to the larger issue of children continuing to be attacked, but there was nothing he could do about the larger issue. All he could do was put together study guides for the four students in the Hospital Wing, in the hopes they wouldn't have to repeat the school year.

The door to his office suddenly opened and shut to no one. Remus whipped his wand out in front of him, only to nearly drop it in surprise a moment later when Harry emerged from beneath James's old cloak. "What in Merlin's name are you doing here?" Remus demanded. He strode over to Harry and had to hold himself back from physically inspecting the boy for injuries. Harry was very obviously not Petrified, and none of the victims had shown any evidence of harms done beyond that.

"I have something I need to tell you about. Well, actually I was going to tell Uncle Severus, but then I remembered your office was a lot closer to Gryffindor Tower, so I thought it'd be safer if I came here to tell you instead," Harry said, his tone of voice suggesting that Remus ought to commend him for this very small measure of sense.

"You shouldn't be out to see anyone," Remus said. He plucked the Invisibility Cloak out of Harry's hands, folding it up neatly and placing it on a side table. Harry could have it back once he proved he wasn't going to be spectacularly reckless with it. Harry made a small noise of protest at that, but was smart enough not to actually argue. "Now I am going to escort you back to your dorm, and tomorrow morning at breakfast you can approach Severus at the staff table and ask for a private word."

"But it's important!" Harry protested. "It's about the Chamber of Secrets."

"What about the Chamber of Secrets?" Reus asked. A large part of him was sceptical that a twelve-year-old might know something the rest of the staff had overlooked, but he reminded himself it had been Harry and his friends that had tipped Dumbledore off about the attempts to steal the Philosopher's Stone last year.

"I know who opened the Chamber last time. And it's definitely not him this time! But I thought, you know, maybe if Professor Dumbledore talked to him, then maybe that would help figure out what was happening this time," Harry said. That begged the question of how Harry knew that, but Remus doubted he'd get a truthful answer if he asked.

"That's a good thought, but I'm certain Professor Dumbledore already knows who opened it last time. He was already here at the school teaching back then," Remus told him.

"Oh, right," Harry said, looking crestfallen. Then he perked back up again, a determined glint in his eye. "But what if he doesn't know? The old Headmaster tried to cover it up didn't he? What if he didn't even tell the professors what really happened? It can't hurt to tell him, can it?"

Remus regarded Harry. Hermione was one of Harry's closest friends, he reminded himself, and there was nothing Harry could do to help her. Nothing but pass on a bit of information that he almost certainly already knew was going to be of little help. "All right," Remus agreed. "I'll take you to Dumbledore's office and you can tell him what you know. But then we're going back to Gryffindor Tower, and you will stay there and not sneak out and put yourself in danger again, do you understand?"

"Yes sir," Harry said quickly. "Thank you."

Remus walked Harry to the Headmaster's office, but before he could give the gargoyle the password, it jumped aside of its own accord to let out Dumbledore and the Minister for Magic.

"What's this? I thought you said the students had been put on curfew," Fudge objected.

"They have. I'm sure it's only an exceedingly urgent matter that has brought Harry here to speak with me now," Dumbledore said.

"Well I don't…" The objection had come from Fudge automatically, but then he stopped. His gaze swept up to Harry's forehead, and he immediately lost his bluster and took on an understanding and almost sycophantic cast. "Well if you feel you need to talk to the boy, I understand. I'll just go on ahead."

"I don't think that would be a good idea," Dumbledore said. His tone was mild, but there was an unmistakeable warning there. "Harry, Professor Lupin, if I may prevail upon your patience, the Minister and I have matters to attend to. You both may wait in my office and I'll be with you as soon as I can.

"But Professor, it's about…" Harry's eyes darted over toward Fudge and he licked his lips. "It's about the Chamber."

"Oh is that all the fuss?" Fudge said with an overwhelming show of geniality. "You needn't worry Mr. Potter. As your headmaster alluded, I'm the Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge. I've come here this evening to personally bring in the man responsible for the attacks in." There was something about that, or perhaps it was everything about it, that rubbed Remus the wrong way. He found himself placing a protective hand on Harry's shoulder without any really idea of what he was protecting Harry from.

"Is that true? You've caught who did it?" Harry asked. He was looking at Dumbledore rather than Fudge, which was really only proof that Harry was a rather clever child.

Regardless, Fudge was the one to answer. "We have a very strong suspicious and we're going outside right now to– "

"Hagrid didn't do it!" Harry shouted angrily. All three adults looked at him in surprise.

"I don't know how you got that name, but I assure you we have every reason to believe Rubeus Hagrid is the guilty party," Fudge said. "He was found guilty of the crime the last time."

"I bet he didn't get a trial either," Harry muttered darkly.

Luckily the word "either" slipped beneath Fudge's notice, but the sentiment had not. "I don't have to explain my actions to you. The Ministry is not answerable to a schoolboy," he blustered.

"No you aren't" Dumbledore said, his words suggesting agreement, his tone anything but. "However, as you are in _my_ school attempting to arrest a member of _my_ staff, you are answerable to me. And as headmaster, I am answerable to my students with regards to providing them with a positive learning environment. Which I believe to include listening to their concerns." Fudge looked near-apoplectic, but his sputters failed to form any sort of coherent sentence, and Dumbledore ignored him. "Now Harry, I presume what you came here to tell me was regarding Hagrid?"

"Just that he was the one who opened the Chamber the last time," Harry said.

"I see. Is there anything else?"

"No. Er, wait, yeah, there is. Hagrid didn't do it. Maybe it was him the last time, before he knew the monster was dangerous, so he was letting it out sometimes just to be nice. But he wouldn't keep doing it after people started getting hurt."

"A very astute assessment of Hagrid's character," Dumbledore said. "Thank you for bringing your concerns to me; I will take it from here. Professor Lupin, if you could escort Harry back to his common room."

"Of course," Remus said, and he steered Harry away to the backdrop of Fudge's continued protests and Dumbledore's deft handling of the man.

"I don't want Hagrid to go to jail," Harry said once they were well out of earshot. "He didn't do anything wrong."

"I'm sure the Headmaster agrees with you," said Remus.

"Yeah," Harry said glumly. He didn't seem especially confident Hagrid's innocence would grant him any mercy. Under the circumstances, Remus could hardly blame him.

"Hagrid was the first friend I ever made," Harry continued. "I mean, I know I met Neville and Ron when I was a baby, but Hagrid is the first friend I made after I was old enough to remember. He was at Gringotts when Professor Snape took me the first time. Oh! I know I met Uncle Severus first, but he's…"

"He's your uncle. It's not the same thing."

"Exactly," Harry said, sounding so relieved that Remus suspected Harry had thought he had implied he didn't care for Severus. As though anyone who knew the boy could believe that.

The relief didn't last, his expression turning morose again. "If the Minister does arrest Hagrid, Professor Dumbledore will make sure he gets a trial right? Like he's doing for Sirius?"

"I'm sure everything will be fine," Remus said. Even though he knew that at twelve Harry likely considered himself too old for such a thing, Remus couldn't stop himself from reaching over and taking Harry's hand.

Harry startled, but after a moment, he squeezed back tightly. He didn't let go the whole way back to the Tower.

* * *

The following morning both Dumbledore and Hagrid were gone. Despite knowing it wasn't his fault and there was nothing he could have done, when he saw Harry's face fall, Remus had never felt more like a failure.


	3. Chapter 3

The latest attack would have been bad enough on its own, but with Dumbledore suspended as well, a heavy pall of fear descended over the castle. Outside the summer weather had truly begun to take hold, but the sun seemed unable to pierce the gloom inside the castle. Conversation was frequently hushed and tense, and everyone wore a pinched worried expression. Even the professors began spending increasingly more time together in the staff room, rather than alone in their own offices.

Altogether there couldn't have been a better time for the news of the first day of Sirius Black's trial to come exploding across the front page of the Daily Prophet.

It was ideal looking at it from both directions, really. The story helped break up the tense atmosphere in the castle, and the pre-existing tense atmosphere kept the reaction to the story among the student body from getting too out of hand. Though Remus did catch Minerva sending concerned glances toward Severus down at the end of the staff table the morning of.

"I wouldn't worry about it," Remus told her. "While this is happening a lot sooner than he would have preferred, Severus has had a while to accustom himself to the idea of Sirius's trial."

"The both of you knew about this?" she asked him, brandishing the paper in one hand.

"The both of us and Harry," Remus said, nodding in the direction of the boy in question. Harry had risen from the Gryffindor table and with Ron and Neville trailing after went to sit next to Draco Malfoy at the Slytherin table, presumably to discuss the news. Minerva watched with raised brows, but she didn't stop the trio, and shortly students all over the hall were getting up and swapping tables in order to gossip with friends from other Houses.

"And how exactly did that come about?" Minerva asked, though she sounded less surprised than Remus might have expected her to be.

"I was the one who realized Sirius's trial had been… overlooked initially and realized the potential for alternate explanations given the limited amount of evidence that had been originally obtained. I brought it to Dumbledore's attention and he took over in ensuring Sirius got the trial he deserves. Actually, I wonder if Lucius Malfoy realizes that by suspending the Headmaster, he gave Dumbledore the free time to help this trial come along." The thought cheered Remus immensely, possibly more than the trial itself, as he still had a fair amount of trepidation about the possible outcomes of the latter. "I told Harry because he deserved to know ahead of the media circus, and I couldn't tell Harry without telling Severus first."

"I suppose not," Minerva agreed. She cast one last look down at Severus. "You're certain he's fine with also this?"

"He isn't happy, but I doubt he'll kick up any sort of fuss," Remus said.

So really, Remus very much deserved the ironic look Minerva sent him later that afternoon when Severus was in the staff room, kicking up a fuss.

After he'd been going on for a few minutes the other members of the staff started to break off into their own separate conversations, leaving Severus directing the entirety of his tirade at Remus. Remus didn't mind; it was rather nostalgic, actually. Listening to Severus rant with one ear while he graded papers was very reminiscent of listening to Sirius and James plot with one ear while he helped Peter with his homework.

"Besides which, the man was already guilty of attempted murder," Severus snarled.

"And I suppose that would make me the murder weapon," Remus said, much sharper than he intended to.

The room fell quiet, and it was difficult to tell who looked more uncomfortable, the professors who knew what the two of them were referring to or those who didn't.

"Never mind, it's fine," Remus said, turning back to his papers as Filius and Pomona both made a concerted effort to reengage the rest in conversation. Almost immediately Remus's head shot back up and he fixed Severus with a stare. "You know what, no, it's not," he said in a hushed voice so as to not disturb the others again. "For one thing, Sirius wasn't trying to kill you."

"Right, my mistake. It was just a harmless little prank," Severus snapped back.

"Of course it wasn't, no matter what he said about it afterward. Not even Sirius, and not even as a teenager, was he ever that reckless and stupid. I'm sure he was hoping I'd turn you into a werewolf; that way you wouldn't be able to out my secret without risking your own. He was trying to protect me, and he was using me as a tool to do it, without telling me or giving any consideration for how I might feel about it. I didn't talk to him for a month after that."

Severus didn't pull off gape-mouthed the way Sirius and James had, but it was clear he was no less surprised that Remus might object to being used than those two were. In fact the only one it had occurred to without prompting was Peter, who a few years later had turned two of Remus's friend over to be killed and framed the third for it. Sometimes Remus really had to wonder about the company he kept.

He sighed. "Just try to remember I am still a person, even when I'm not."

"And yet you forgave Black eventually," Severus observed, looking at Remus contemplatively.

"Yes, after he'd spent a month grovelling and then promised to never…" Never betray Remus or any of the Marauders trust like that again. Despite that promise, despite Sirius's complete and utter sincerity when he made it, Remus had still let Sirius rot in prison for eleven years on the belief he had betrayed James – James of all people. All of Remus's righteous anger died out in an instant, leaving only a writhing mass of guilt behind. "Anyway, it was a very convincing apology," he concluded before burying himself in his grading again.

He could feel Severus eyes on him for a few moments longer, practically boring holes in Remus's skull. Then, without another word to Remus, he turned and joined Minerva's conversation about scheduling for the evening patrols.

* * *

Remus strode out of the front door of the castle and purposefully down toward the front gate. There was a figure stood there just inside the grounds that after a moment Remus recognized as Severus. It wasn't surprising to see him there, precisely, as Remus had known Severus was being called as a witness for the defence same as him, but it was odd the way he was stood there not moving.

"Were you waiting for me?" Remus asked as he approached him.

"Hardly," Severus said dismissively, and it was true that even though Remus had now caught up to him, Severus still wasn't moving. "This is asinine," he continued after a minute. "Witness for the defence of _Black_? Why would I ever be a witness to that man's defence?"

"Why _are_ you here?" Remus asked. True, Severus had stopped at the threshold and appeared to be trying to talk himself out of going on, but part of Remus, a large part really, was surprised he had made it this far.

"Albus has asked – required it of me. He says I should do it for Harry. As though having that mangy mutt around could ever be in Harry's best interest," he said.

"The Sirius I know, presuming he is still the Sirius I know, would be willing to kill or die for Harry. I don't say that as hyperbole, I mean that if at this very instant, after Sirius hasn't even seen Harry in over eleven years, if you told him he needed to die to protect Harry, or kill someone, he'd do it, no questions asked."

"If I'm not mistaken it's your belief in his willingness to kill 'no questions asked' that got Black into this position in the first place," Severus sniped.

Remus held back a wince. "Yes, well, you take my meaning. Sirius loves Harry and would do anything for him. Given what we fear is to come, I can't see how having someone like that on his side could be anything but a benefit to Harry. But don't listen to me."

"Excuse me?" Severus said, taken aback.

"That's what I think, but it doesn't matter what I think, does it? You're Harry's guardian, you should do whatever you think is in his best interest, whether that's helping Sirius go free or going on the witness stand and saying everything possible to get him locked up again."

"And you aren't going to threaten hound me relentlessly until change my mind?" Severus asked, a bit of dry wit sneaking into his tone.

Remus smiled. "Not this time. There wouldn't be much point in it after you've already given your testimony."

"True. All right, let's get this over with." Severus walked through the open gates and Disapparated with a loud crack.

Remus followed after, appearing in the entry hall of the Ministry for Magic. The pair of them headed down to the courtrooms beneath the Ministry. Those particular courtrooms hadn't been used in years to Remus's understanding, but he suspected the Ministry and the Wizengamot – because of his bias on the matter, Dumbledore had stepped aside as Chief Warlock in matters relating to the trial – were attempting to make some kind of point. Given the articles in the Daily Prophet over the past three days, they were failing spectacularly. It was amazing how many different subtle ways Rita Skeeter had come up with to call both bodies incompetent.

Outside the courtroom Severus was pulled aside by Sirius's barrister – a man in his mid-thirties with slick tawny hair by the name of Brantley Boyle – as he would be the first one to give testimony once the court had reconvened for the morning. Remus was directed inside to an area where he could wait and watch the trial until he was called. He immediately spotted a familiar figure in the stands – really, it would have been hard not to see him – and made his way over.

"Hello Hagrid," Remus said, taking a seat next to the man. The wizard on Hagrid's other side gave him a brief suspicious look before going back to scrutinizing the courtroom. Presumably he was Hagrid's guard since as far as Remus knew he was still under arrest. "Glad to see you here."

"Glad to be here," Hagrid said feelingly.

"I can imagine. How are you here?" Remus asked. "I thought they had sent you to…"

"They did, but Dumbledore named me as a witness for the defence for Sirius. I musta bin the last ter see him before he went after Pettigrew. He showed up at Lily an' James's house when I was fetchin' Harry. White an' shakin', he was. Shoulda known then he never coulda hurt them."

Remus bit back a grimace. _Hagrid_ wasn't the one who ought to have known Sirius better than that. He changed the subject, "What about you? Have they scheduled a trial date?"

"Dumbledore's bin puttin' 'em off on it. Says there's too much ter worry 'bout with Sirius's trial." Hagrid glanced over at his guard then leaned in closer to Remus. "Between you an' me, I'm thinkin' he wants ter get back to the school firs'. Poke around fer evidence an' such. There's no proof that it weren't me that did it, an' the Wizengamot's not inclined to look kindly on folks like me. But I suppose yeh've had more than yer fair share of that too."

Before Remus could reply to that, the courtroom was called to order. There were a few preliminaries gotten out of the way before Severus was brought in to give his testimony.

"Mr. Snape, Mr. Boyle says you've been brought in as an expert on Death Eaters," said Amelia Bones. As the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, she was acting as prosecutor. "Could you please elaborate as to what qualifies you as an expert?"

"Professor Snape if you please, and that is a matter of public record," Severus drawled.

"For the members of our jury who might not be familiar with those decade old records, could you please state your qualifications. Professor."

Severus gave her an icy glare. "I was a Death Eater, before I realized the Dark Lord's goals did not align with my own. I contacted Albus Dumbledore and served as a spy for the last year and a half of the war," Severus said.

"How old were you when you joined that group?" Boyle asked.

"Seventeen," Snape said.

"That's very young," Boyle observed with an affected air of sympathy.

That too received an icy glare. "I fail to see how that's relevant."

Boyle smiled tightly. "Well. In your time as a Death Eater and as a spy, were you ever aware of Black being a member of that group?"

"The list of the names of every Death Eater I was aware of is also a matter of public record. However, since apparently no one has bothered to do their homework, for simplicity's sake I will tell you the name Sirius Black was not on there," Severus said.

"Mr. Black has claimed Peter Pettigrew is guilty of the crimes he has been accused of," Madam Bones said. "Does Pettigrew's name feature in your list of known Death Eaters?"

"No, it does not," Severus answered.

"So may we then assume that as you were aware of neither of them as being Death Eaters, it is equally likely that either of them could have been one?" asked Madam Bones. Severus was silent for a long minute, long enough that Madam Bones prompted him again.

Finally he spoke. "It would be equally likely provided one does not take into consideration the characters of the two men."

Boyle pounced on that. "Are you saying you consider one of the two of them to be less likely to have become a Death Eater?"

"Both Black and Pettigrew have qualities that would have served them well as members of that organization, and joining it is something I could easily believe of either of them. That said, Black is loud and brash and rarely passes up a chance to be the centre of attention. Pettigrew is a shirking, cowardly follower who was often overlooked even by his own supposed friends. Either of them might have joined, but that does not mean they are equally likely to have done soon without having drawn my attention."

"You're saying you don't believe Mr. Black was a Death Eater?" Boyle prompted.

"Are you incapable of pushing up his robe sleeve and seeing for yourself?" Severus returned.

Madam Bones interjected. "This court has already established Mr. Black does not bear the Dark Mark, and has further established that this does not preclude him from having passed information along to You-Know-Who or his followers."

"Perhaps I should rephrase," Boyle said. "Is it your expert opinion as a reformed Death Eater that it is unlikely Mr. Black was ever allied with that group?"

"It is my expert opinion as a former spy that Black wouldn't last a day in that profession without crowing about it to all and sundry," Severus said.

"Thank you, professor," Boyle said looking a bit as though he'd rather be strangling Severus than offering him gratitude. "No further questions."

Madam Bones agreed that she too had no further questions, and Severus was dismissed. He got up and rather than moving up to the stands swept out of the courtroom altogether.

Then it was Remus's turn to give testimony. For the fourth and hopefully last time, Remus related the story of how he'd come to suspect Sirius's innocence. Madam Bones and Boyle were less interested in the details of what Remus believed to have happened, having already heard the story from Sirius. Instead they focused their questions on issues surrounding Scabbers – who still had yet to be caught and it was doubtful he ever would be at this point – and on Remus's assessment of Sirius and Peter's characters. Finally, after what was probably a much shorter time than it could have been but still much longer than Remus would have liked, Madam Bones declared she had no further questions for him.

"I do have one last point of clarification I would like to make," Boyle said. "You said that in addition to Pettigrew, Black and Potter also took on Animagus forms, correct?"

"Correct," Remus said.

"We've already established Pettigrew turns into a rat," Boyle said, a faint distaste colouring the words. "Could you please tell the court what animal Black turns into?"

Remus narrowed his eyes at the man. There was no question that he already knew the answer to that, just as there was no question as to what he was really up to.

Remus's initial impulse was to snap at the man. Just because a person turned into an animal on occasion didn't give him any right to suddenly make sweeping generalizations about their character. People were more than the stereotypes others forced upon them, and furthermore what right did this man have to bring such gross oversimplifications into what was supposed to be a hunt for the truth?

Almost involuntarily Remus's eyes flickered up to the one space in the room he'd been studiously avoiding. There he was. Sirius. It was clear someone – likely Dumbledore or possibly Boyle – had arranged for Sirius a chance to attend to his personal grooming. His robes were well-fitted and clean, his hair brushed, his face clean-shaven, and his whole appearance generally tidy. But the good fit to his robes only made apparent how unhealthily thin he'd become, the tidy neat brushing of his hair couldn't hide how stringy and lank it was, and the lack of a beard emphasized the gauntness of his face. And his eyes. Sirius's eyes had always been bright and full of laughter. Now they were sunken and hollow. Sirius's eyes shouldn't look like that.

The only thing about Sirius that wasn't thin or wan or haunted was his expression. He looked to be just as offended by Boyle's question and insinuations as Remus was. In fact, he rather looked like he was offended on Remus's behalf, and would like to hit the man with a good Stinging Hex. That, more so than anything, was what pushed Remus over the edge.

Very quickly and quietly, not sure if this was bravery or cowardice, Remus said, "He's a dog. A very large friendly dog. Is that all?"

"Yes, thank you." Boyle's smile made Remus sick to his stomach. Definitely cowardice, he decided. And yet as he swept out of the courtroom – unable to stand being there for another minute – he couldn't bring himself to regret it.

To his surprise, Severus was still standing out in the hallway, keeping the gathered reporters at bay by the force of his glare. "Were you waiting for me?" Remus asked, feeling a sense of déjà vu.

"Hardly," was Severus's once again reply, but this time Remus's arrival did seem to be his cue to continue onward.

Remus thought it best not to mention that, but once they were far enough away from prying ears, there was something that he felt he needed to say. "Thank you. For defending Sirius with your testimony." Because despite the snark and bluster on exhibit, that is what Severus's words worked out to at the core of them.

"I did no such thing," Severus said. "We told Harry the purpose of this trial was to find the truth of the matter. Rather, you told him that, but I was present at the time and did not disagree and I doubt a twelve year old, no matter how bright, would make that distinction. I decided what was in Harry's best interest was providing consistency in words and actions, so I told the truth. Whose interests the truth serves has nothing to do with me."

"Ah," Remus said, grinning. "Well, whoever it is that's responsible for that, I am grateful to them."

Severus rolled his eyes. "Noted."

* * *

The next few days passed interminably slowly. Remus existed in what seemed a constant state of worry, fluctuating between worry about the trial and worry about the attacks on the school. His brain was so preoccupied with the two that there were times when his body seemed to go on automatic and function without the rest of him for a while, so that times he found himself suddenly in the middle of something without any clear recollection of having started it. This was manageable when it was merely eating dinner that he had worked his way through without thinking, but it was a bit more troubling at times like these, when he had been escorting the first year Gryffindors back to their common room after class and had no specific memories of anything between leaving the classroom and arriving at the entrance to the Tower.

The children climbed in through the portrait hole, looking unconcerned – or at least no more concerned than they all did these days – so Remus assumed things had gone without incident. Granted, he didn't think it especially likely that he would remain in his fugue state had they actually been attacked, but he really needed to get a handle on things. Or preferably matters needed to resolve themselves so he didn't have to wander around in a constant state of worry anymore.

After the rest of the students had returned to the common room, Ginny Weasley lingered, standing with her back to the opening and twisting her hands before her. She looked pale and almost frightened. It wasn't an uncommon look for the students these days, but it was so markedly different from the bright little girl she'd been on Christmas morning – furiously arguing with her brother about the new rat, beaming with joy when Harry received her impromptu gift with genuine enthusiasm, and even burying her face into her pillow with vivid embarrassment – that Remus couldn't help but add worry for her onto his growing list.

He knelt down so he could look her in the eye. "Is something wrong?" he asked her as gently as possible.

"I have to tell you something," she mumbled. Her eyes wouldn't meet Remus's, but that didn't hide the haunted look in them. Remus knew who she reminded him of – Sirius, sitting in the courtroom on trial after eleven years of being tormented by Dementors.

Remus's alarm ratcheted up even higher. "What is it?"

Ginny's mouth opened, but no sound came out. She snapped it shut and began rocking back and forth. After a long minute she opened her mouth again.

"Remus!" Dumbledore, of all people, came striding down the hallway from behind them. "What a fortuitous coincidence; I was going to come to find you after I spoke with Harry."

Ginny gave an "eep!" of surprise and after a fleeting, frightened look at Dumbledore she scampered through the open portrait hole, the painting swinging shut behind her.

"Oh dear," Dumbledore said after watching Ginny's retreat. "I hope I didn't interrupt anything important."

"I'm not sure," Remus confessed. It was possible Ginny was only feeling the same acute stress they all had been feeling lately and wanted to talk to someone about it, but something about the encounter suggested to him there was more to it than that. "I'll talk to her later. Hello, Headmaster."

"Not at the moment. I'm merely here on a brief visit with permission of the Acting Headmistress. I wanted to deliver the news in person," Dumbledore said.

Remus's brain twisted around, catching up with the oddness of the situation. Dumbledore was right, he wasn't the headmaster right now, and he shouldn't be here at all. He should be at the Ministry. Unless…

"The trial?" Remus asked.

"Finished and judgement passed." Dumbledore smiled. "Sirius has been found innocent of all charges."

Relief crashed through Remus, leaving him staggering with the sudden weightlessness of the feeling. "Thank…" anything, everything, "goodness. Where is he?" Remus asked, peering behind Dumbledore as though he expected Sirius to come ambling down the hallway any second now. Part of him did.

"Still at the Ministry. It's not been that long since the verdict was passed and there is a fair amount of processing to be done. I've left him Madam Bones' very capable hands," said Dumbledore.

"His prosecutor?" Remus asked.

"A task she was assigned and carried out in a thorough but unbiased manner. Now she is being required to see to Sirius's release, a job which I am certain she will carry out with equal professionalism," Dumbledore said. "That allowed me time to arrange other matters. Sirius is not in the best health, and he needs somewhere to recuperate."

It was like a wash of cold water over Remus. The trial was over, but that didn't mean things were now resolved. Sirius would still be recovering for a long time yet. "Of course. Will he be going to St. Mungo's?"

"I suggested that to him, but he had something else in mind. He was quite vehement about it, and I did have to concede St. Mungo's was likely more than what he needed. So I'm here to arrange for it." Remus stared at him uncomprehendingly. Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. "Sirius will be coming here to stay in the Hospital Wing. Minerva and Poppy have already given their permission for him to stay and special dispensation for Harry to visit him after classes tomorrow if he likes. I was just coming to tell Harry the good news."

* * *

"Not to mention the Hospital wing is for children, not for grown adults. It's ludicrous."

Remus glanced up at Severus. He had thought the man had been done with his tirade earlier when he had gone from pacing the length of Remus's office to sitting down in one of the chairs on the other side of Remus's desk, but after a breath he'd kept going. Now though he seemed well and truly done.

"It's not all that surprising they would choose to make an exception given… everything," Remus pointed out reasonably.

Severus scowled. "It may be their prerogative to do so. However, I don't recall giving permission for _my_ ward to run off cavorting with him."

"Cavorting might be a strong word for it," Remus said.

Severus's scowl deepened, then it faded as a questioning look passed over his face. "And what are you still doing here? Shouldn't you be down in the Hospital Wing as well, taking part in some joyous reunion, slobbering all over each other or something?"

"I…" The writhing mass of guilt in Remus's gut seethed.

Suddenly the door to Remus's office burst open to admit Harry and Sirius. Severus sent Remus a dry look. "Cavorting."

Harry brightened at the sight of both Remus and Severus, while Sirius noticeably paled – an impressive feat given how pale he was already. "Remus, Uncle Severus! We figured out the Chamber of Secrets!"

Remus and Severus exchanged a look. "What did you figure out?" Remus asked.

"It's a basilisk!" Harry cried. "It's been traveling through the pipes, and the voices I've been hearing is it talking in Parseltongue. The reason people have been getting Petrified is because they've all looked it in the eyes, but not directly: Colin saw it through his camera, Justin saw it through Nick, who's already dead, and Hermione and Penelope used Penelope's mirror to look around the corner first and saw it in there. And Mrs. Norris saw its reflection in the water outside the flooded bathroom. Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, and she must be the girl who died the last time the Chamber was opened and just never left the bathroom. That's where the entrance is!"

There was a long moment of silence as Remus and Severus processed the information just thrown at them. "You may well be right," Severus said. "A very astute observation, Harry."

Harry looked thrilled at the compliment, but Sirius seemed like he was offended on Harry's behalf. "Astute? It was bloody brilliant. This kid's a ruddy genius," he said, ruffling Harry's hair.

"Language, Black," Severus said.

"Don't tell me what to do, Snape," Sirius snapped back.

Remus cleared his throat. "I believe there's a basilisk we need to attend to."

"Right you are, Moony. Now, how are we going to wrangle this thing? I'm thinking…" Sirius rambled on with ideas as though he was going to be helping. As though he, still pale and thin and trembling from over a decade spent in prison being constantly tormented was going to be assisting in fighting a basilisk.

"Stop," Remus commanded. He slammed his hands to the desk, trying to hide how hard they were shaking. He'd only just got Sirius back; he couldn't lose him again. "Just stop. You are not going to be coming with us, Sirius. You are going to escort Harry back to the Hospital Wing and _stay there_. Someone will be by later to escort you back to your common room, Harry. Severus and I will alert the rest of the staff and we will handle the basilisk."

Sirius visibly deflated. "Right. Okay. C'mon Harry, let's get out of the way."

Harry's gaze darted quickly between the three men. "All right. Be careful Uncle Severus, Remus."

"Have you ever known me to be reckless?" Severus asked.

Harry grinned. "Nope. See you later," he said, and headed out. Sirius cast one last long look at Remus, then followed.

Now Severus was giving an assessing look at Remus. Remus could feel the knot of guilt in him growing with each passing second. After a moment, Severus stood. "I'm sure everyone else is in the staff room."

"I'm sure they are," Remus agreed. He stood as well, and they went to rouse the rest of the staff to kill a basilisk.

Their plan was quite simple once they'd put it together. The likely entrance to the Chamber was found in the girl's toilet, as Harry had suggested. It required the use of Parseltongue to gain access, but it was a simple matter to have Harry teach Severus's pet snake to say the word "open" on command. The basilisk was also easily dealt with, now that they knew what it was they were facing. All the roosters at the school had been killed earlier that year, but Minerva would be able to go out and procure one for their use the following morning. Then Minerva and Severus, with rooster and snake in hand, would head down to the Chamber and make short work of the creature. In the meanwhile the students would be kept in their common rooms, guarded by a staff member at all times.

It was a very good plan. So good that Remus went to take the first shift guarding Gryffindor Tower convinced that by this time tomorrow all he'd have left to worry about was how to apologize to Sirius for everything he'd done wrong that afternoon and over the past eleven years. Then a first year girl ran up to him near to tears in a panic, and before she'd even said a word Remus realized he had completely forgotten to follow up with Ginny Weasley.

A new plan was needed. Since they could no longer afford to wait for morning so a rooster could be fetched, Filius agreed to assist Severus and Minerva in taking the basilisk down. A basilisk was a dangerous creature, but it wasn't beyond the abilities of a group of well-trained wizards prepared for what they were dealing with. Remus was given the responsibility of going with them, finding Ginny, and protecting her if she was still alive. Finally Gilderoy – who had been "accidentally" excluded from their previous planning session – insisted on coming along too. With a quick exchanged look the other four decided the hindrance of having him along was worth the time saved by not trying to convince him to stay behind.

The five of them set out, traveling through the secret entrance in the girl's toilet down an absurdly spacious pipe to a long stone tunnel. At the end of the tunnel there was a stone wall carved with two entwined serpents with glittering emerald eyes. Severus tapped his snake twice on the head and she hissed at the wall. The serpents parted at the two halves of the wall slowly slid open.

The next thing Remus remembered he was standing in a long dimly lit chamber, Ginny Weasley hugging him about the waist and crying. In front of him was a very, very large dead basilisk and behind him was Gilderoy Lockhart sprawled unconscious on the ground with both Minerva and Filius pointing their wands at him. Severus looked as though he might have been doing the same, had his hands not already been full with a small black book with what appeared to be one of the basilisk's fangs stabbed through it.

"Memory Charm," Severus said to Remus by way of explanation.

"Ah," Remus said as he rubbed Ginny's back in attempt to soothe her. It did explain a lot. Quite a lot, actually, more the more he thought about it. He surveyed the room again – dead basilisk; alive Ginny, who appeared unharmed, if distressed; Severus, Minerva, and Filius unharmed; and a very thoroughly and deliberately destroyed book, which Remus was tentatively also classifying as a positive development. "I take it everything worked out all right? Aside from us needing a new Defence professor again."

Minerva snorted in disgust. "That would be part of everything working out all right, I should think."

Remus inclined his head in agreement. "Well then, I think we ought to get Miss Weasley back up to the safety of the main building. You can fill me in on the rest later."

* * *

Remus leaned back in his chair and sighed heavily, feeling emotionally exhausted. He'd just spent a long time talking to Ginny, helping her to sort through her emotions after what she'd been through. He had offered to do it – who knew better than him what it was like to have something dark hiding inside of you, to wake up to great dark patches in your memory, terrified of what you might have done – but he had underestimated how taxing he would find the conversation. He wasn't sure he was up for anything else at the moment.

It was also possible he was making excuses not to do the one thing he really wanted to, but was terrified of facing.

Just then his door opened, making any meditations on the matter something of a moot point.

"Sirius," Remus said, getting up out of his chair.

"Hey there, Moon – Remus," Sirius said. He stood awkwardly in the doorway. Remus suspected Sirius wasn't entirely sure he wanted to be here at all.

"Are you okay? That is, should you even be out walking around right now?" Remus asked. Sirius had been admitted to the Hospital Wing for a reason.

Sirius rolled his eyes. "I'm fine, mother. I managed to walk here and back yesterday without any problems, didn't I? I've not been chained to the bed yet. Besides I wanted a chance to talk to you when Sniv – Snape wasn't around. Sorry, I know the two of you are friends now." He looked as though the words had physically pained him to say.

"We aren't…" Remus paused mid-sentence, considering. "Huh. You know I think we actually are friends. How odd."

Sirius grimaced. "Now I wish I hadn't said anything."

"He's much better than he was when we were kids, you know. Well, he's better anyway," Remus explained. He quirked a half-smile, more to himself than anything. "He's not mean, that's just the way he talks."

Sirius was openly incredulous. "Are we sure you're not the one that been driven crazy by a decade in prison?"

Remus blanched. He knew it would come to this. He'd failed Sirius so utterly, left him to rot in prison for years. There was no way Sirius would ever forgive him for it. It was too deep a betrayal; he was –

"I'm sorry," Sirius blurted.

"You're… what?"

"Look, I've been thinking about it a lot and I think I've figured out why you're angry. It's one of three things. Well, four, but I'm pretty sure you can't be mad at me for my barrister being an arse since Dumbledore was the one to hire him. So it's got to be either running off after Wormtail without telling anyone what was going on, or abandoning Harry to do that, or for not telling you about the switch in Secret-"

Remus hugged him. He held on tight, like Sirius was a brother finally returned from long years away at war. Actually, that was almost exactly what it was like. "I'm not angry; I was sure you would be. I should have known you never could have betrayed Lily and James like that."

Sirius barked out a laugh and squeezed Remus back just as fiercely. "We're idiots, aren't we? The lot – the pair of us."

"The lot of us," Remus corrected. "Harry's clever for his age, but he's still only twelve, and Severus definitely has his moments."

"Oi," Sirius said, giving him a playful punch in the arm. "Don't put me in a group with that git."

"You might not have a choice about that if Harry has any say in the matter," Remus said.

"Yeah, I've been pretending not to notice that, thanks," Sirius said. He sprawled out in one of the chairs, looking perfectly at ease now. "Is true Snape and Lily were cousins?"

"Second cousins, and yes, apparently," Remus said. He took a seat opposite Sirius.

"I guess that explains why she put up with him for as long as she did," Sirius mused.

"I don't think she ever knew about that, actually. I'm fairly certain Severus only discovered the connection last year when he was trying to find alternative living arrangements for Harry. Lily and James did want him to go to family if possible," Remus said.

"And now Harry's living with 'Uncle Severus,'" Sirius said, sounding resigned to the matter. "It's a weird world I've come back out to, Moony. Did you know I spent an hour this morning being interrogated by Cissa and Lucius Malfoy's son about what I did to get kicked off the Black family tree? The little bugger was calling me Uncle Sirius the whole time too."

Remus chuckled. "He and Harry have become good friends. Is Draco hoping to follow in your footsteps do you think?"

"That or he's trying to bring me back into the fold, still not sure on that one," Sirius said.

"Well, if the worst thing we have to worry about for the next while is an invitation for you to a family dinner at the Malfoy Manor, then I will count us lucky," Remus said. The past year had been busy and stressful enough for two years at least. Probably more.

"There's still the new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor to hire. Any idea what Dumbledore plans to do for that?" Sirius asked with a casual air.

"He hasn't had all that much time to think about it yet – it hasn't even been a full day since Lockhart was arrested," Remus pointed out. "I do think he was maybe thinking about reaching out to some of his old Order contacts to see if he could call in a favor with one of them."

"I'm one of his old Order contacts," Sirius said.

Remus blinked a few times. "Did you want the position?"

"Why not?" Sirius asked. "I'm good at Defence, and I was exonerated so technically I'm not a felon anymore. I can take the summer to finish recovering, and then I'd have a good excuse to come back here next year and spend more time with you and Harry."

"And Severus and your new protégé Draco," Remus added wryly.

"You're playing a dangerous game there, Moony," Sirius shot back. "I know you haven't told Harry any the embarrassing bits of your stories.

"Any of them more embarrassing than the time you tried to impress Marlene McKinnon and-"

"Okay, okay, you win," Sirius said.

Remus grinned, but soon the expression shifted to something more thoughtful. "You really want to become a professor?"

"Not for forever, but if I take the Defence position it'd only be for a year anyway. You figure if I put that in my contract the curse will pass me over? I think it will. So just a year then. It'll give me something to focus on." Sirius was looking down at his hands in his lap, his fingers twitching nervously. Remus thought it was less about having a focus and more about a having a distraction. He couldn't deny that Sirius might need one right now.

Sirius visibly forced his fingers to still, then scruffed one hand through his hair. "Why, don't you think I'd be good at it?"

Remus made a show of considering the question carefully. "I think in very short order you would become all of the students' favourite professor."

"Thanks," Sirius said, flashing a grin.

"Of course," Remus said. "Now, as to whether or not you'd be any good at it…"

Sirius laughed uproariously, and for just that moment, it seemed like all was right with the world.

* * *

AN: Alternate titles for this story include "And Also There's a Basilisk" which is a bit of nonsense I came this close to using, and "Harry Has Two Daddys" which is definitely the most accurate title, but I had to leave it off because I didn't want to mislead any of the slashers.

For those of you who are wondering as to Pettigrew's fate, I did leave it ambiguous on purpose. Partially because I wanted to get away from the false sense that Sirius can only be free if Pettigrew is captured, and partially because I wanted to leave my options open in case I ever did come back to this series. That being said, if I don't ever come back to it, then I leave my lovely readers with this quote from CoS, taking place as Harry, Ron, and Lockhart are making their way to the Chamber: "the first unexpected sound they heard was a loud crunch as Ron stepped on what turned out to be a rat's skull. Harry lowered his wand to look at the floor and saw that it was littered with small animal bones."


End file.
